Sumber: Freepik.com

In the beginning of 2022, like so many people, I set various plans and goals to achieve. Of the many plans I set, some of them just seems to happen and become a surprise. Not all of them are good things of course. In the midst of  these surprises, I started watching Ted Lasso, an American TV series that was very inspiring.

I managed to finish two seasons in just one week. Not only once, I finished Ted Lasso three times in less than 2 months. There are many moral messages that I can learn from each episode (Maybe sometime we can examine them together). One of them is about living life like a goldfish..

Why goldfish? Why not a lion or wolf? Well, there are many positive things that we can infer from the characteristics of every animal. But, there are two interesting things we can learn from goldfish besides the fact that goldfish can be easily cultivated and bred.

First, the memories of goldfish or Cyprinus goldfishio allegedly only lasted less than five seconds. Imagine if we could be like that, especially on things that hurt, wounds, and stop us from doing good. The heart and mind will certainly felt more spacious and free, right?

However, recent research from Culum Brown (Macquarie Sydney University) confirms that with positive reinforcement, goldfish can store memories for more than five months and see more than the four base colors. Same as us, really. When we are given positive affirmations from within and the surrounding environment, extraordinary changes can happen very quickly.

Second, goldfish can change the colour of their body, according to their surrounding. Just like iguanas and chameleons, it turns out that goldfish are gifted with the amazing ability to adapt. A goldfish can bring up a beautiful color when given enough light, but shows a pale and dark scales when lacking light. Humans are similar. In the right environment, we can be the best version of us. However, that does not mean when we are outside of our comfort zone we give up. We went into adaptation mode, conforming to our environment, and survive.

Those are the two things that make goldfish, very interesting for me. Short memory and adaptation. Short memories can be a blessing if it helps us forget about things that aren’t important, and facilitate a life full of surprises. Adaptation helps us create our own comfort zones even in the most uncomfortable places.

Author: Faza Rahim K.P

Editor: Ari Budi S