We Are The Architects Of Our Own Experience

On the first day of Kindergarten, my teacher told all of us newbies that we were in the process of creating a building. That we could think of each thing we learned as a brick in that building. And by the time we got to the high school, our building would have a roof, and we’d be able to use the building to create new opportunities for ourselves.

And yesterday, I heard the quote that we are the architects of our own experience. The person who said it didn’t know where it came from, but it made me think about that first day of Kindergarten. I remember being excited for the building that I was going to make, and then I got so wrapped up in the brick laying that I forgot about the building as an entity.

But it goes beyond our mind. Since we are nothing more than the nutrients we’ve acquired from the food we at, one could say that we’re the architects of our own experience and we use food as a way to build that experience.

I once saw a documentary on health that pointed out the fact that we have a choice about every single thing that passes our lips and into our digestive system. It often doesn’t feel this way, that we have a choice. For instance, today I’m at a college where they’ve given me a boxed lunch in addition to the healthy oats that I brought to eat. I planned to eat the oats but instead got full on a chicken sandwich with cookies and chips. The exact thing I was trying to avoid.

If I’m the architect of my own experience, then I don’t think that much about which brick makes the most sense for the strongest building. Not as much as I should think about it. Maybe my teacher should have told us that we will encounter many bricks on our journey, and that the most important skill we can cultivate is knowing which brick to lay and which to ignore.