There is a neuroscience reasoning behind it.  When we intake sensory information, the emotional centers of our brain (also known as the limbic system) work quicker than the logical processing function (prefrontal cortex).  In other words, when we experience something, we are more likely to feel something first before we form thoughts about it.

Hence, to experience is to feel. 

Regardless of whether the feeling is positive, negative, neutral, or any other emotion in between, we have experienced it because we felt it.  We would also form thoughts about the experience, granting us with new perspectives and ideas, or even pushing us to challenge previous thoughts that we have had about a similar experience. 

How are we Forever Changed with every experience?

As we grow older, we are more likely to go through similar past experiences and our emotions about it may be similar to before as well.  For me, cities begin to blend in similarities and I find myself less stimulated and less enthusiastic even when I am visiting a new city halfway across the globe.  Nonetheless, the reduced stimulation and mental comparison of cities are fresher feelings and thoughts that I did not have when I was a little girl, which simultaneously grows my spectrum in feeling and thinking. 

Relating this to a more mundane experience of walking to the Carnegie Mellon University campus every morning, it is surprising to retrospectively recognize that I do feel and think slightly differently each time I make the walk.  These feelings and thoughts are not only dependent on the time of the day and the season of the year, but also the time flowing as I approach graduation.  There is the realization that in a couple of months, this normal walking routine will change; which brings a sense of nostalgia as I think about the other walking routines that I have had that I would never get to relive the same way again.  With each walk, I learn how to avoid water puddles on a rainy day, I instinctively know when to dodge an overgrown bush, and I think about how the little asphalt pebbles on the side of the road could someday send me to the Final Destination if someone decides to speed over it. 

In both instances of different experiences, I feel and think something different each time I experience them, regardless of how similar they are to what I might have felt or thought of before.  As we experience events over time, it is hardly possible for anyone to consistently have the same feeling and thought about something every single time.  With time, we experience more events and our feelings and thoughts will naturally change as they interact with each other consciously or subconsciously.  Hence, with every experience, we are Forever Changed, regardless of the scale of the experience and its impact on us. 

A way to grasp the concept of being Forever Changed is PFTC (kind of sounds like a beatboxing trick):

I am Forever Changed.

I recently took a trip up north to visit Randyland which has been lying on my Pittsburgh bucket list for awhile now.  I have seen artifacts online about Randyland, and even had the privilege to meet Randy himself this summer at an event!  Other than slight expectations of Randyland being fun and wacky, all I brought was my curious self, my present self and all its thoughts and knowledge, and my partner.

Situated within the Old Allegheny neighborhood, Randyland is a bright contrast from its neighboring structures which instantly lifted my mood and reminded me of Yayoi Kusama’s artwork.  Interestingly, Randy claims that he is not an artist, but a dreamer.  I felt that on a deeper level than I had expected.  I sometimes sculpt, paint, and draw, but never felt right to call myself an artist.  Thank you, Randy, for the name suggestion, a dreamer.

I left Randyland with a cool shirt in support of Randy’s cause and images that I thought were interesting or helpful for future project references.  Randyland made me feel almost fulfilled as I saw what could be a hoarder’s dream come true and it made me think about how beautiful an unorganized structured space could be.  It made me think about my own projects and how I can apply what I saw, felt, and thought at Randyland to them.  With that, I am Forever Changed; as dramatic as it sounds every time I type it, but it is that simple.  With every experience, we are Forever Changed.

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