Selective Forgetting: Prepare to Be Delighted

Sometimes I'm afraid that I'm a little bit jaded. I feel dissatisfied with my life and frustrated by the state of the world and it all just seems a little gloomy. My friends, this is not a lovely train of thought.

Then yesterday I was making French toast, and I started thinking, "You know, I love French toast. It's one of my favorite things. What a great world we live in where someone decided to cook bread in eggs and cinnamon (and vanilla and nutmeg if you're me) and it turned into something that was delicious with peanut butter and syrup."

Somehow French toast is always that way, and I figured out why yesterday. I love it, but I forget about it. I don't know why this is, but I just don't think about it at all until suddenly I go, "Gasp! Remember French toast?"

And then I thought, maybe sometimes I should let myself forget about things so I can be delighted with them all over again. (Deep, right?) My reasoning is thus: every time I discover something new that I find amazing, it completely changes my day. If I'm with the right people, there's often some jumping up and down or clapping, sometimes dancing, often squealing. ("Ack! I didn't KNOW how great this band was. Where have you been hiding sweet potatoes from me? What is this thing called sushi??) It's been happening a lot lately because my roommates and I have been making Halloween plans using Martha Stewart magazines, and let's face it - fingers made from cookie dough and almonds - that's a great idea! We see a picture of something we want to make or we read about an event we want to attend and we all have this little moment of joyful anticipation, and suddenly we aren't jaded grad students anymore - we're 7 again, and we're planning our Halloween costumes without thinking about how we'll probably have to wear a coat over it. Everything should be like this! I love holidays!

But there aren't always exciting things going on. Sometimes life can become a big fat drag if we let it. That's where this idea of careful forgetting comes in.

Why can't we be delighted with the things we love all the time? Just pretend for a minute that you've never had hot chocolate. "Oh my goodness! What is this glorious beverage??" Right?

I mean really - I've had French toast hundreds of times, but it still brightens up my day and brings back cozy Saturday mornings of sleeping in. Rediscover your favorite things - popcorn, crunchy leaves, really dumb movies, that great shirt you got on sale, that great shirt that wasn't on sale but was totally worth it, your favorite book that you've already read six times, the smell of your baby (after the bath, not after he poops), the feeling you used to get when you went to work before you started hating it - whatever.

What will you forget about (kind of) today so that you can be delighted by it (completely) tomorrow?