Little pleasures #5: Positive forgetfulness

leimrod — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:20:29 +0000

How can forgetting something good be a pleasure? Well because it makes remembering that thing even better. Like, it’s been a good few months of moderate and sunny weather, but then suddenly it takes a turn and you have to pull that winter jacket out of the closet and face the bitter cold on the way to work. As you head out you put your hands into your pocket to stop the wind biting at them and what do you find? Money! Maybe its a 5 or a 20, or maybe its just €1, it’s still money you didn’t know you had until now. Even if its not money, finding anything good that you’d forgotten about gives you a great feeling. I remember I found half a roll of winegums in my pocket from a few months back and it made my day. It feels like the universe isn’t going to pick on you today and the rest of the day is going to be alright.

Another aspect is the few moments after you wake up before your brain has fully gotten back up to speed. It happened to me last Saturday, I woke up, looked at the clock, and thought “CRAP!!! I’m late for work”… I heard a noise downstairs, wondered why my wife wasn’t at work and then the blissful realization hit me… “It’s Saturday”. Putting your head back onto the pillow (turning it over to the cool side of course), and having a long lie-in seldom feels as good when you thought you couldn’t.

I usually hate being forgettful, and the limits of my mind. Sometimes I can’t find a bookmark, and not wanting to dog ear my novel I just look at the page number and try to tell my brain to remember what page I finished on. Sure enough, the next day, I will have forgotten and will spend minutes flicking through the chapters trying to jog my memory. But for the examples above, and others that, ironically, I can’t remember, I’m glad that the human mind is sometimes a sieve, otherwise I wouldn’t find pleasure in discovering or realizing things I had all along.

leimrod.com » morning

Little pleasures #5: Positive forgetfulness