I recently watched a movie for the second time. The law of diminishing return suggests that this should have been less pleasurable than watching it for the first time. But this was not so. I enjoyed the movie much more than I did the first time. In fact when I look back, the few times I have watched a good movie again, I have always enjoyed them more than watching them for the first time. Why is this so?
When I watch a movie for the first time, I am too caught up in the drama. I am too anxious to figure out the plot. My mind is too gripped with answering the question: What’s going to happen next? When I watch the movie again I have no such worries. I can now enjoy each scene on its merit. I am liberated from the worries of the plot. I can now sit back, relax, and actually enjoy the movie.
Our lives are also in many ways like movies. Like movies our lives have a plot and we constantly worry about what is going to happen next. Unlike movies though, we do not get a second chance to experience our lives again. But the lesson from movies is clear: If we somehow learn to free ourselves from the worry about the plot then we shall enjoy our lives more.
You know i Have heard the same thing about books. But I find that I just don’t have the same reaction. I think the excitement of not knowing makes everything more interesting. Movies that I thoroughly enjoyed the first time are less entertaining the second time. Not to say I don’t enjoy books and movies repeatedly usually because I get some new info from them …but all in all I find this hypothesis to be invalid for me — and I wonder if others feel that way too?