It flashed again. Excitement.
The over-large purple cursor waited for him. Blinking on the screen.
I’d had to disable the touchpad due to his fidgeting near it. That had been moving the mouse.
His face was bright. Reflecting both the light of the laptop and his own energy. His eyes were full of anticipation. When commanded, he gingerly finger pecked the keys.
This scene was my six-year-old “doing computing” with me.
The first thing we opened was Chat GPT. We explored a few brief chats. It took forever for him to type out the full questions on the AI interface. I had suggested he tell the chatbot that he was only six years old, but he declined to, saying he was embarrassed. This was a shame as I’ve learned from my use of AI to date that each prompt works best with appropriate context. As a result, the answers we got were a bit overwhelming for his young mind.
Excitement comes again
I revelled in his excitement. Being excited like a child gets excited doesn’t seem possible as I approach the twilight of my thirties. Yet I’ve been feeling good recently. Excited about trivial things. Seems strange to feel upbeat about the school-run allowing me to get my daily steps in. Or to feel happy that I have access to so much technology. Yet I am recording such small-scale wins in my bullet journal gratitude log.
Using the bullet journals over the last year have formed a kind of anchor during the storms around me. Which brings me on to the world at large. Despite the general climate of fear, dread and hopelessness that pervades the headlines, I feel excited. I feel like something big is coming. Something worth being excited for. I’ve had this feeling for some time. Certainly a few weeks. Maybe months.
If 2023 was a vintage year for me, and 2024 was a year of stabilizing my psyche, 2025 will be the year of getting a grip on positive habits. Personal growth then, is an exciting area for me. But the changes in life don’t stop there. Everything changes. All the time. Especially when you have young ones. Their journey of growth ensures nothing stays the same for long.
Preparing for Children
Just over six years ago (before children) my wife and I attended NCT classes. In the final session the group talked about dreams and expectations. My take on the best expectation about parenthood was when my little ones reached their mid-teens and could go off into the world on their own. Travelling for example. Or extended trips outside the family unit.
The expected satisfaction was to come from them having learned enough from me and their social world to go off without us parents. Then come back and give me a new insight into the wider world and their original outlook.
How did they problem solve? What did they see? How did they feel about it all? Seeing the world through the more youthful eyes of my offspring would give me a fresh perspective.
Thinking about the future changes the present
In Zen, it is held that the present moment contains all possibilities. This includes the seeds of the future. By focusing our energy now, we can shape what unfolds tomorrow. The only problem is staying anchored in the present whilst adopting a future-focus.
The main issue with feeling excited for the future is the accompanying sense of urgency. There is a challenge in ensuring delayed gratification. Keeping cool, whilst taking positive and proactive concrete steps to bring about the desired future. It’s all about building on the foundations of hope. Here are some realizations that have shaped my outlook on what’s coming:
- I am a capable and active agent of change
- Therefore I can shape events and my reactions
- I am imparting wisdom and skills to my children
- Together, we are creating cycles of prosperity through positive belief
If any of these notions resonate with you I encourage you to explore them thoroughly. Being excited then, and pursuing an ambitious future, is definitely worthwhile.
The Power of Positivity
Reflecting on the power of thought has helped me feel more positivity and more excitement. For many people, what holds them back is not just circumstances, but a combination of circumstances and their reactions. The resulting patterns of thought. Becoming despondent or downcast doesn’t help situations and predicaments. As Marcus Aurelius put it;
“The soul becomes dyed with the colour of its thoughts”
Basically, it’s crucial to pay attention to the quality of the thoughts we entertain. The fact that a Roman emperor mused on the topic shows that not much has changed in the mechanisms of the human mind despite thousands of years passing.
Realizations can shape tomorrow
That evening with my son at the laptop felt like something more going on than simply using new technology. It gave me a glimpse into the future. Watching him grapple with questions and ideas with the tech reminded me how much potential lies in curiosity and effort.
His excitement and enthusiasm highlighted this truth that resonates with me: our ideas about ourselves and our capabilities drive both our actions, and our responses to events in our lives. Overarching thoughts get translated into the world around us. Make them good ones.