One of my favorite quotes comes from the Greek philosopher Heraclitus:

No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man

The part about the river changing is fairly obvious. A river behaves as a living being. New water passes through every second, and this water changes the nature of the river as sediment is deposited and whisked away.

Extending that further, the world around us is constantly in flux. Even the things that seem the most stable change in ways that we might not appreciate.

At the same time, we ourselves are constantly changing. In a literal sense, we age with every minute that passes and we adapt to our physical circumstances, but in a deeper sense, our learning and growth should also change the way we see the world.

If you’ve ever re-read a book, re-listened to a song, or re-watched a movie from your childhood; then you know how this feels. The lessons we’ve learned since our last encounter change the way we interpret whatever we’re putting our attention on.

Taking it a step even further, these lessons can help to change the entire way in which we experience the world. And I actually think we’re missing out if we don’t occasionally make the effort to re-evaluate this.

As we develop, we make decisions about how we interpret certain aspects of our lives. We craft a story for how the world around us works, and how we fit into the greater picture.

But as we hopefully continue to learn and gain a better understanding of ourselves and everything around us, it’s worth coming back to some of the simple assumptions that we might not even realize are still impacting our lives.

-Brandon