Discovery

I think one of the greatest pleasures in life is discovering something for yourself. It's magnificent to take a step away from logic and delve with the intuition of the world. That is why I love the field I am in.

The thrill doesn't come from hearing professors spout out facts. The joy comes when I've completed an experiment of which I didn't previously know the outcome. It comes when I have something unique and special to share with others.

The joy comes the strongest, though, when I take that leap of intuition and realize, once I've landed, that it makes sense. Some of my most uplifting and happy times where not when I was "learning" new things, but rather when I made a connection between two or more previously "taught" snippets and was able to combine them into a greater and more edifying truth. It's very difficult to explain, the feeling that generates from stumbling upon a firm, philosophical truth. I can't describe the feeling simply with words, but the pursuit of that feeling has greatly shaped me into the person I am today.

The wonderful thing is that discoveries can be made anywhere. Remember a movie that you loved that you initially watched knowing nothing about it. Remember the book that you read without recommendation; or that song that spoke to you, not blaring from the radio, but rather hidden in the middle of a CD that no one listens to. Remember the friend you made outside of your social circle, or the trail on the mountain that you yourself blazed. Remember that secret room that you always known when it will be empty. Remember, remember. Discoveries are made anywhere and everywhere.

There is a sublimity in having something that you can't attribute to anyone else. This is your song; your book; your movie; your spot. No one told you about it, you simply discovered it by yourself. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that feeling simply amazing. It gives you a sense of ownership, even if the discovery was created by someone else. The creation at this point isn't important, it is the discovery of the creation that makes it yours. No one but you truly knows what it is or what it means because it is your discovery and yours alone.

I cry: explore! That is how discoveries are made. Talk to the person your normally wouldn't. Climb those extra flights of stairs; discover what truly is above (or beneath) you everyday. Leave your ipod, camera, phone, wallet, everything at home and go for a walk, unadulterated. Start noticing the things you take for granted on a daily basis. Enter a building you haven't been in before. Watch a movie you haven't heard anything about (good or bad). Drive down a street you pass everyday, but for one reason or another have never turned onto. Eat at a new place and try something you've never eaten before.

But don't just explore the world. Explore your life, your past. Remember the things that used to make you happy. Rediscover your love for the things that kept you going through junior high or high school. Find a place you haven't visited in years and silently allow all of your memories and emotions to return. Go through old pictures, play with old toys, and read old stories. Explore your past as though you were stepping into a abandoned city; it's all been left to unmaintained and unpopulated. With everything you have forgotten, the journey is bound to be more of discovery than remembering.

Make discoveries. Make things yours.


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