mmmm, basmati

I stopped at Moby Dick House of Kabob for dinner, I love that rice, it's so buttery good. But I was waiting in line to pay, and I was behind these two 16-17 year old girls that were acting goofy and silly, kinda in their own world having fun. They were being loud, but not really bothering anyone, and it made me think that they were being innocent in an adolescent way. That lead me to think of two things. First, another aspect of innocence is the environment you in, and the people you are with. Second, that to a degree, part of innocence is being able to live in the moment.

It makes good sense that you are most comfortable when you are around only people you are close with. When you are around people you may not know very well, at some place you are not familiar with, or, honestly, someone you don't like, you are not being your true self; you start putting up those barriers to protect yourself from potential harm.

I see a few things I can do with that knowledge. I could avoid any situation where I may be uncomfortable, never taking risks to meet new people, or go new places, thus ensuring the maximum amount of time being innocent. Sounds pretty boring and lonely (hmm, yeah.) Or I can recognize when I am in situations where I am not comfortable enough to be my carefree innocent self, and just accept that as a fact of that moment, with the hope in time, that acceptance of un-comfort becomes comfortable.

Jimbo mentioned in his response that one of the ways we lose our innocence is when we get older, we begin to feel pain and become guarded against taking risks. Part of that comes from the ability to know, to an extent, the reaction to many of our actions. That may be the beginning of our unfortunate habit of looking forward and backward, rather than focusing on the moment. It is obviously not logical to live in the moment 100% of the time, but I know I am guilty of spending too much time in my head rather than being in the moment. So expand that out. When I was watching those girls happily being in their own world, it made me think about when I was that age and hanging out with my friends, I'm sure we acted in a similar carefree manner. And then I'm sure in 10-20 years from now, I'll see people my age, and think about how I was that much more innocent then (if I continue on the same thought path I am now, of course). So if we keep the sense of innocence in the time plane of "then" it would seems difficult to honestly be innocent.