Gedankenexperiment: (guh-DAHNG-kuhn-ik-SPER-uh-muhnt) noun: A thought experiment, an experiment carried out in imagination only.
I'm in San Diego right now. (Business trip for my day-job.)
One awesome thing about traveling is coming into contact with people who have VEEEEERY different lives than you. Their "normal" is sooooooo different from your "normal," yet both are completely REAL and TRUE for each of you.
I especially love flying over the country and looking down at the tiny houses and cars and imagining the many lives being lived and many different perspectives that those people have on our world.
Environment has soooooo much influence on us...growing up...shaping us into the adults we become...Where we grow up...Who we surround ourselves with...The opportunities that our communities have or don't have to participate in sports and arts and student government and field trips...local industry and economy...topography. It's crazy...when you really think about it...how DIFFERENT our experiences are...and yet...how we're all sharing many of the SAME experiences too. It's WILD!
These kinds of musings help to give me perspective on my own life...That I could be having a very different experience if I lived in, say...Austin, TX...or Phoenix, AZ...and...it gets me thinking....
Why do people choose to live where they live? Why do I live where I live? Would I be happier living somewhere else? Am I sooooo caught up in my "New York reality" that I've completely lost touch with what's happening elsewhere in the world?
Being here in SoCal is interesting. I try to imagine myself actually LIVING in San Diego...Imagining if this was my daily reality. How would that help to shape who I am as a person?...As an artist?
The pace of life here is sooooooo different from New York. Much slower. I would definitely miss the hustle of NYC...But the sunshine here is very cheery... and I do like the Pacific Ocean.
There are plenty of crazy people on the streets of San Diego too...just like NY. So that's the same.
Anyhoo, there's no answer that I'm looking for...I just love relishing the question..."What would it be like to live somewhere else?" And I let my imagination run wild....
Imagination is a beautiful thing. We can live a million different outcomes in the comfort of our own heads. It's the BEST. Thank goodness for imagination!!!
And it is freeing to know that I could COMPLETELY change my life by moving to a different city. Not that I WOULD...because I love my apartment in NY...but I COULD. That's nice to know.
Sigh.
Wishing you a fantastic day of imaginary experimentation. Try on a new life for size today...in your thoughts.
Who knows? Maybe these imaginings could lead so some ACTUAL life changes...Thoughts become things, ya know.
Imagine,
Virginia
P.S. Don't forget! Tomorrow's the Acceptance Project Mixer at 7pm in Walnut Creek, CA. Click HERE for all the info! Hope to see you!
nothing last forever
not even the mountains
someday they will be swept away and swallowed by the sea
we all shall be blessedly released
life is so precious it's as fragile as a dream
and in a moment we all grow our wings
I wish to sing as if no ones listening
I wish to dance as if no one is watching
I wish to dance as if no one is watching
and I, give thanks for my dreams
you can rob me of my sight
and you can poison my blood stream
but as long as I can dream then life is worth living
-- Brett Dennen, Nothing Lasts Forever
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