It's the Little Things

I watch my youth kids, and I am acutely aware of how much our brains change and develop from our teens to our 20's. They seem to require constant stimulation, and they are always trying to do more than one thing at a time- they are on their phone, playing a video game, and talking to someone all at once and then wondering why adults keep telling them to pay attention. They are frenetic and seem unable to settle down and focus on one thing at a time. I remember bits of pieces of this, always craving excitement and social actitivies, even if I didn't have that much fun once I was partaking in them. I remember watching the worst movies and wondering why I felt the need to sit through them. I remember feeling bored a lot. Fast forward 10 years, and suddenly trying to multitask feels overwhelming, I crave contemplation and concentration, and I have gained the capacity to be much more in the moment and experiential. I can lose myself in thought more often, and I can focus on tastes, noises, images, and feelings so much more. I also jealously guard my free time and refuse to watch movies I won't enjoy.Additionally, I've begun to crave beauty, perhaps because there is so little around me. I desire to make the places around me lovely, nurturing, and warm, as if to nurture my soul and the souls of other people around me.  Suddenly life is about the little things, and my capacity to enjoy the little things is directly related to my own ability to concentrate and meditate on them.

To the youth, I'm probably becoming boring, but since I'm no longer bored, I think I'm coming out ahead.