Just realize where you come from:
This is the essence of wisdom.

Tao Te Ching - Verse 14
(Translated by Stephen Mitchell)
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I was hanging out with some children yesterday. (Well, it wasn’t just me and some children, that’d be weird. It was a Thanksgiving gathering, mind you. Point is) I couldn’t help but notice the level of joy that exists in kids around the age of five. Pure giggling, non-stop, over the most insignificant things.

I can’t remember the last time I experienced that much joy at seemingly nothing. I can’t even remember the last time I experienced that much joy at SOMEthing, despite any amount of sugar I’ve consumed.

At what age does that stop, I wonder? When does life squeeze it out of you with trauma and bills and responsibilities?

Is it psychological, where life experience puts things in perspective?

Or is it chemical, where aging doesn’t trigger the same dopamine release in our brains?

Are the years you barely remember really the most joy-filled years of your life?

It seems sad, but then again, life might be strange if spinning around on the floor and screaming in ecstasy over games of tag tickled us the same way as adults as it did as children. Not to mention the tears that come moments later when repeating chants of “I want a lollipop!” yield no results.

Maybe we just have to take whatever little sparks of joy that come as we get older.

Excuse me while gorge myself on delicious leftovers and watch World Cup goals get scored.