My private universe from 1957 to 1973
Wie geht's?
During a zoom meeting, I caught myself making a self-serving comment to a colleague the other day (I've since apologised to him).
Possibly you can relate - you blurt out a comment without giving it due diligence and regret it later. That's the brain for you.
In this case, I beat myself up for a few days - wondering why. Over that now - never-the-less I will learn from it!
When you're a child things are all about you. You are the centre of your universe, so the self becomes central to our thinking.
Growing up, my universe was limited to a few well known streets around Greenwood's Corner/Royal Oak, a central suburb in Auckland.
I went to kindy, then Royal Oak Primary then Manukau Intermediate - all within walking distance from our home; lived in Oak Street and Korma Ave. (mislabelled as Korma Rd. on the map); played behind our home in Monte Cecilia Park; rode bikes around the Sanitarium factory; played football at Seymour park off Pah Road and tennis at Waiata club up in Fernleigh Rd.; doctors, dentists, chemist, dairies, bookshops for my comics at the big roundabout - all were within my Royal Oak universe.
These days, after world travel, four children, a long lasting marriage and the benefit of experience, my universe has grown a tad.
Still, as Genzaburo Yoshino says in his book (How Do you Live?) - Even among adults, the human tendency to think about things and form judgments with ourselves at the center remains deep-rooted.
Love and peace - Wozza