For What It Used To Be

To pose questions at the onset of a topic is to simply provoke thought and begin to draw you into a state of wonder. Where were you when you loved something? Where are you now? Our feelings can change from one point to the next but what is written in our heart will tell us the truth. Feelings are the emotional charge we receive from something great or small. No matter what is it we receive that gives us these feelings we know them to be true by our first reactions. Do we love something for what it used to be and not for what it is today? Are we doing this without even realizing it?
According to wikipedia.com, “Emotion, in its most general definition, is an intense neural mental state that arises subjectively rather than through conscious effort and evokes either a positive or negative psychological response. An emotion is differentiated from a feeling.” It also points out, “Feelings are affective states of consciousness, triggered by physiological changes arising from both sensory perceptions and memories in comparison to internally stored norms or ideals.” The idea of loving something for what it used to be is just as simple as stated. What we love may have changed. Time is the truth. What something may have been before is what triggered an emotion within us - the forever mystery of love. This is more than a feeling that is in our consciousness but an “intense neural mental state” that is born within us.
When I personally think of things that I have loved I think of music. When I reflect on where I was when I loved it would be as a small child, as far back as I can remember. My mind is drawn back to the music that existed before I was even thought of or born. Eras of music that would have been but a dream to be a part of are now what I read, study and listen to daily. Is the music I fell in love with simply history to me now and not what I love today? At times I begin to wonder! What is this garbage I hear playing across the airways sometimes? Surely there is someone out there receiving recognition for true talent and a gift for music. These thoughts are of course very drastic as well as slightly extreme and I did so to make a point - a very valid point I might add. I still am deeply in love with music and will be until the day I die but what I fell in love with is not the same anymore.
Change is necessary and needed so desperately that our growth is stunted, however this change has made us lose the emotion of love that is so vital. Our standards of love have dropped therefore we do not love with the intensity of yesterday. Presently because something may appear to you in a new and does not bring with it the same feelings, love is repressed. “Fundamentally, Change denotes the transition that occurs when something goes from being the same to being different. For example, water in the liquid state is not the same as water in the frozen state. At some point, it experienced a transition and became different. Thus, it changed.” (Wikipedia.com) The in between times or the transition is the true test. This is where time is put to the test. Can you endure the transition? This process is the very element that has taken us from the love we once possessed. The simple act of change now has taken on a complex nature that can change our lives forever.
Everyone has to evaluate things in their lives once in a while and weed out the points that deter them from their course. This particular evaluation would be for us to find what it is we truly are passionate about. If it is something that has changed our minds because of time, then with strength we must move on. This happens to many people that began majors in college. They start out in a particular field of study and then years later find out they are not so passionate about the field they have chosen. Our greatest gift is to love. In loving something for what it was and not for what it is today is tragic but part of life. However, during this tragedy we find out who we truly are and the change is for greater good.