Fall Out (Valentine's Day special)

“I fell OUT of love. People think you can only fall INTO love. But you can also fall out of love,” said Jay.

“How?” I asked him.

This was the last time I'd see him.Two months later he moved to USA , got married and got settled.

Jay said “I thought about the time I went sailing. You see, I once went out  sailing and I saw a sunset. It was beautiful; we were the only boat on the sea, and all around there was nothing but water, water, water. Big water, lazy, and dark blue like a piece of candy. The sky was orange. And on the horizon was this huge red sun, and it was dipping down into the water like it was putting its own fire out. That sun was the biggest and most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my life. Anyway, I got out my camera and I took a picture of the sunset, and waited for the film to be developed, just picturing that big beautiful sun in my mind, and how great the pictures would be when they came back.

Then I got the pictures back.

What a disappointment!
Each photo was mostly water, and there was only a tiny red pinpoint for the sun. That wasn’t the way I had seen the
sunset in my mind!
I guess when you're out there in the emptiness and the waves, and there's only one object in all that empty space, your mind gets screwed up and you think that the object a lot bigger than it really is. Your mind magnifies the sun. Your perspective gets distorted. Since the sun is the only thing on the empty horizon, and there’s nothing to compare it to, it looks absolutely gigantic.”

“Well, what does all this have to do with Anita?” I asked.
“Oh yeah. I was having the coffee on the lawn, and I was falling down this mental hole-- hopelessly in love with Anita. And because she was the only thing on my mind, and there was no other feeling to compare her to, she seemed more important than anything or any person in the world.
See, when you're feeling empty, and there's only one person on your mind, she looks like the biggest, brightest star on the horizon.
But what if it’s all a perspective trick? An illusion.
A mental mind game?
What if you’re only obsessed with her because there’s nothing else on the emotional landscape to compare her to ?

Well anyway, while I'm having this coffee, this old friend named Tulsi comes up to me. Tulsi was a friend
of an old girlfriend of mine named Vijeta. So Tulsi and I do a little small talk and out of the blue Tulsi asks me if I made any chocolate chip cookies lately. Small talk, you know. So I say to Tulsi, 'No, not lately. Hey, how did you know that my hobby used to be making chocolate chip cookies?’
And Tulsi says, ‘Don't you remember? You used to make them for Vijeta. I got together with Vijeta and a
couple of girlfriends last weekend, and we got to talking about old times, and she mentioned that you always made the best chocolate chip cookies.’
Vijeta was my old girlfriend, my former lover before we broke up. At the mention of Vijeta's name, I felt
something hit me. An old familiar magic. I remembered Vijeta. I remembered her face, and the little curve of her
ear, and how we were lovers. It was like a door opening, because suddenly all these old feelings and memories that Ihad put away came flooding back.
After Tulsi left I started thinking about the old times with Vijeta and how much Vijeta and I had meant to each other in those days. And yes, I used to bake her cookies, and a lot of other stupid things like that.
And now in my head at that moment I started comparing my old feelings for Victoria with my recent feelings for Anita. And it was really strange. Because when there was only Anita, and I had nothing to compare my feelings about her to, then Anita seemed like the most important person in the world. But when I started comparing my feelings about Anita to my old feelings about Vijeta, then Anita suddenly didn't seem as important as before. In my thoughts, in my priorities, Anita’s importance began to slowly shrink from mountain to mole hill. I felt myself climbing out of a mental hole. I wasn't obsessed with Anita anymore-- she wasn't ‘the only person.’ She was just one of anumber of people I've felt strongly about. Anita was no longer this all-important goddess figure.
After I thought about Victoria I had my perspective back again.
Can you believe it?
 I actually fell OUT of love!

But that's the weird thing about it-- everyone knows you can fall in love, but few people know the trick to making yourself
to fall out of love.”

Jay claims that with practice, he keeps falling in and out of love these days.