Ignorance is Bliss... but mostly in hindsight!

What? I've had spinach in my teeth ALL day and no one told me?

Perhaps I was not blissfully ignorant all day. I certainly was blissfully ignorant of the spinach in my teeth... but it is only now, as I fret and fear over the unknown consequences of all of my actions that I dutifully performed with that darn spinach hanging between my teeth, that I think of that ignorance as bliss.

Back in the day...
 I was blissfully ignorant of the fact that some of my friends saw me as too emotional. Well... I was blissfully ignorant anyway. I was probably a little confused too, confused why I was not closer with certain people or why others did not seem to like me on certain days. Of course, maybe they liked me and I interpreted it as dislike... but that's just how great my mind is! ...always thinking it "knows" things, always thinking it "understands" things.

Back in the day...
before I realized I wasn't perfect, (I know, woah, earth shattering news) I did not know how much work it was to be a better person. Now, knowing that I can be better and working towards a better me, I often find myself exhausted at the end of the day. Why is it so much work to be patient? Why is it so much work to be understanding? Ignorance of my weaknesses and my ability/duty/desire to strengthen them... now that was bliss!

Essentially, I've been thinking about this Ignorance is Bliss stuff since yea, (for example) it would be great if I didn't KNOW that certain foods were bad for me because then I would not have guilt when I inevitably indulge. At the same time, it sucks to be putting things into my body that might have negative consequences for my digestion. For example, the ignorance of my allergy to wheat... ahh bliss! I ate pizza at will, any kind from anywhere! And now? Now I have to pay more, look harder, and eat special pizza without the processed wheat flour. Sometimes it is frustrating, sometimes it makes me angry in fact! But wow has my digestion improved! And wow I feel better! So perhaps it's not that the ignorance itself was good...

Looking deeper I see that ignorance is bliss because we didn't know the pain, the work, the missing out, etc... we were unaware of the "bad stuff." Well, personally, I like my new-found awareness and ability to work on being healthier physically, emotionally, relation-ally, etc. What if instead of ignorance of ________ we were simply unaffected by _______?

Unless you have an idea how to go back to being ignorant? Because by the time we realize "ahh ignorance was bliss," we are looking backwards into time. Ignorance is Bliss... but mostly in hindsight. Is there any other path to bliss besides ignorance? Non-attachment perhaps? Bah... sounds like a lot of work, ignorance was a lot easier.

"Wait?! The wrapping paper isn't the present?" -Boden (Wise or Ignorant Nephew??)

     To each his sufferings: all are men,
            Condemn'd alike to groan—
      The tender for another's pain,
            Th' unfeeling for his own.
      Yet, ah! why should they know their fate,
      Since sorrow never comes too late,
            And happiness too swiftly flies?
      Thought would destroy their Paradise.
      No more;—where ignorance is bliss,
            'Tis folly to be wise.


              -Thomas Gray