The other day, a friend called me with a totally new idea. The specifics of the idea don’t matter, for our purposes, as much as the fact that my friend had lived for many decades before having this particular life-changing insight.
We can go through days, weeks, months at a time without encountering anything particularly new or mind-changing. That’s the usual state of affairs, and there’s nothing wrong with it.
In fact, if we had no typical days, most days, we might not notice or appreciate those moments of insight when they do come.
One interesting thing about my friend’s call was the timing.
During that same week, I told her, I had encountered a totally new idea, too.
Like my friend’s insight, the details don’t matter as much as the fact that it occurred. And when it did, I wondered what had taken it so long.
It happened while I was playing the piano, something I used to do a lot back in elementary school.
These days, sometimes the practice is as much for the old piano as for me. It helps us both to keep in shape.
So while playing a familiar song, I switched from the key of C to the key of F, and discovered something that my piano teacher may have tried to teach me all those years ago.
Back then, it didn’t entirely take.
It had to do with the relationships between the various keys, and it made it a lot easier to play those pieces that have a lot of intimidating looking sharps and flats.
It was a totally new insight. At least, for me.
When my friend called, I shared that story with her. And I’m still sharing it.
Not because I want to explain my discovery to the world. Most musicians, at least those who have persisted with their lessons longer than I did, might find it to be old news anyway.
But what stands out in my friend’s insight, and my own, is that there is no cap on discovery. It can happen at any time, at any age. And it can alter the way you see things, or do things, from then on.
These discoveries don’t come along every day. But next time you seem to stumble on a new way of doing something, maybe a new idea or a new approach to people, be sure to take note.
The psychologist Carl Rogers once suggested that a healthy approach to everyday life would be to view our experiences with the curiosity and openness and wonder that we see in small children.
For the smallest humans, almost everything is fascinating, because so much is new, at first.
We can’t force that kind of wonder as we move through life, with fewer things to experience for the first time.
But that does not mean there is (in the words of one ancient preacher) “nothing new under the sun.”
For each of us, there are new experiences under the sun. Old ideas we haven’t discovered yet. Old patterns in piano scales.
So keep your eyes and ears open. Because it might happen more often if you keep on the lookout for it.
Julia Cochran is a licensed professional counselor in Rincon, and a psychology instructor at Armstrong State University. She can be reached at 912-772-3072 or by email at JCochranPhD@GileadCounseling.com. Any opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Armstrong State University.