It’s The Obvious That Makes Life Meaningful

We only really notice when it’s gone

A lot of things are so obvious we take them for granted. Personal freedom. Good health. Good conversation with a friend or loved ones. Even great natural surroundings. We only really notice when it’s gone.

I recently moved houses. I used to live near a river. I enjoyed my solitude walks along the riverbank. Spending time near water can boost your mood and increase feelings of happiness. Dozens of research prove it. I had to move for family reasons. But I miss the river experience.

Danish author Hans Christian Andersen once said, “The whole world is a series of miracles, but we’re so used to them we call them ordinary things.”

There are thousands of simple but meaningful experiences around us. But we are too familiar with them to appreciate how much they mean to us. We move through life like blindfolded tourists, skimming the surface of the ordinary, mistaking familiarity for understanding.

But why should we bother questioning the seemingly mundane? After all, isn’t the obvious, well, obvious?

The truth is that our brains are wired for efficiency. We filter information, discarding the seemingly repetitive background noise. But in doing so, we miss the intricate details, the nuances…