Rediscovering Joy

Recently, I ventured into the culinary world of Japanese cuisine by purchasing a small bag of new crop Japanese rice. When I cooked and tasted it for the first time, the experience was remarkable. The rice was delightfully fluffy and subtly sweet. It felt like the best rice I had ever tasted.

However, this heightened appreciation was short-lived. By the second and third times I prepared the rice, the extraordinary sensation I initially felt had vanished. The rice tasted just as good, but the thrill was gone. The novelty had faded, and with it, the intense pleasure I had experienced during that first meal.

This phenomenon made me ponder about how this pattern reflects broader aspects of our lives. When we first encounter something new—be it a relationship, a possession, or an achievement—the freshness adds a vivid color to the experience. A beautiful spouse, a dream home, a prestigious job—all these things initially give us a profound sense of happiness and achievement. But as time passes, the intensity of these feelings tends to diminish. The beautiful becomes familiar, and the extraordinary becomes ordinary.

This shift in perception is intriguing. It’s not that the qualities of the person we love or the features of the home we live in diminish; rather, our human nature gently nudges us back to a more neutral emotional state. We adapt to the good just as we do to the bad, often losing sight of the wonder that once captivated us.

Reflecting on this, I realized that perhaps this is just a natural part of life. The initial excitement we feel with new experiences is a beautiful but fleeting gift. Over time, that burst of joy becomes a fond memory, a subtle flavor in the ongoing feast of our lives. While the incredible taste of that first serving of Japanese rice might not thrill me as it once did, it reminds me of the beauty of first experiences and the inevitable human adaptation that follows.

In this light, every new beginning, every first taste, is to be savored, cherished, and remembered—not for the fleeting thrill it offers, but for the rich tapestry of experiences it adds to our lives. And perhaps, in acknowledging the transitory nature of such excitement, we can learn to appreciate the enduring comfort of familiarity just as much as the initial dazzle of the new.