Here is how it works! When you are little anyway.
You are almost two and have a ‘first’ moment.
Your first moment down a very steep slide, “Get ready, get set, go.” And you are flying. At the bottom you crack yourself up and then do it again and again and again. How smart you are.
How did you know to stretch out the moment of ‘firsts’ and until they land in in you?
How about the next ‘first’? When you can blow a bubble from the wand and watch it float on the wind. Again and again laughing wildly each time the bubbles stretch from the wand and take flight.
As we get older we take our ‘firsts’ for granted. A new insight in the therapy office, a new move at the gym, the first signs of spring, they barely get a nod, before we move on to what is next. Firsts get left in the moment as we speed on to the future.
Neuroscience promises that we can rewire ourselves — that what fires together wires together. The pros suggest we linger and amplify the key moments in our lives. I have a little slinky in my office. It starts out tight but can be stretched wider than my arms will extend. I like to think of it and how far we can stretch.
Is this just being Pollyannaish? Accentuating the positive? Maybe the longer we spend in a good feeling bolsters us to face bad ones. Gives us strength and helps us grow. The little ones already know this.
