52 minutes on the treadmill, 4.0 miles, 4.6, 100/70.
Odd amount of time, I know. It was how much of Cold Mountain I had yet to watch. Very good movie, in my Hummel opinion.
So, a view into that philosophisization I was doing the other day: can you recall three memorable moments or occurances in your life where factors that were almost entirely beyond your control came together in just the right way so as to cause that moment to bring you real (however fleeting) happiness, and made the moment stick with you for the long haul?
An example of the kind of moments in my experience are these:
1) The very first (and maybe the only) time I experienced the sensation that happens when a sip of wine comes together with its absolutely perfectly paired food. When the experience of the two together far surpasses the pleasure of either on their own.
2) Those moments where your iPod or the radio or whatever plays the most perfect song or combination of songs for the state of mind you (or the group of people you're with) are in at that moment. Like it just knew, like it was in sync with your brainwaves or aura or vibrations or whatever.
What strikes me about all of the moments that fall into this category for me is that if I had tried to make them happen, I would have failed at every attempt.
They are moments that can't be manufactured.
The very fact that neither I nor anyone else had a hand in the moment happening is exactly what made it perfect. Like, I could go back to that very restaurant with the same group of people, order the exact same pomegranate salad and the exact style and vintage of wine as I had when it happened, and I would not have the same sensation.
What makes those things happen? What can we do short of trying to manufacture those moments (which doesn't work) to make conditions ripe for them to happen?
I have a theory about that that's rumbling around in my head lately.
It is a theme, and it keeps butting in the front of the line of thoughts in my head. I don't think I'm on the verge of anything profound or earth shattering here, but it seems like I'm on the verge of something meaningful that will help me personally be a happier person.
And I'm not exactly an unhappy guy really.
No, I'm not talking evangelical Christianity. You needn't worry about that.
Really.
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3 comments:
No, I'm not talking evangelical Christianity. You needn't worry about that.
Really.
Thank you. Not that there's anything wrong with that!
Your philosophizations (wtf, is that a word?) have been very interesting.
Is it like, 'the harder you work, the luckier you get'?
Eh?
Yeah, not that there's anything wrong with that. Except for Jack van Impe. He's a freak and so is Rexella.
No, what I'm talkin' about isn't really about how hard you work. And I don't even think it is about luck.
It is more about really being in the moment you're in. And an openness to experience what's really going on in that moment.
Like I think there are way more of those moments in our daily lives that we recognize. I think we ruin the majority of them for ourselves by allowing our expectations or intention to get in the way of what's really there to experience.
Does this even make any sense, because it makes a lot of sense in my head.
It makes total sense.
You are very zen lately. You should read the Tao of Pooh. Really.
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