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WHICH MOMENTS MATTER MOST
Saturday Dec. 21, 2013
Most things are what we plan or strategize for, aren’t they?
Look back on your crooked path, ask about big shifts, unimagined changes and the impact of breathtaking and astonishing people who altered your being – “were these predicted or predictable?”
Some things are simple yes/no answers, stop/go moments, barely visible blips on our path. Taking chances, chance meetings – small world moments, slight changes in plans – wonderment at calm, feeling centred while hurricanes whirl in other people’s lives.
Risking life altering moments isn’t calculation. They happen, or don’t.
While we have lots of control over our subsequent choices, we can’t change that moment.
Or want to?
Two things happened yesterday. They alter history. OK, maybe alter my history. Not so sure about history of the world yet, but I like to be optimistic.
Ah, but which two were they?
Two I have in mind right now, or different moments?
Sometimes, what we think most likely, WILL change us, or at least change our day.
Sometimes, what we think least likely will alter our lives.
Most days, things that change us, our lives and our perspective – are ones we don’t notice much in that moment. I had a bizarre collage, moment reminders, yesterday – woven within coincidences too marvelous to have been just random.
Great opportunities, great risks, great joys – great pains, live in the same houses with us, life’s highs and lows creep in when we are sleeping. We should not be surprised.
We can choose to be thrilled, or spilled . . .
Most moments don’t matter much.
At first blush, they look not much different from those that matter enormously?
How can you tell one from the other?
People who enrich our lives know it, we know it too, sometimes that happens when we first shake hands, when first glances convince us to take chances, could be in a driveway, driving range or driving in traffic . . .
Mostly, we don’t notice at all. Yet, on those moments that do alter us – whether two, or ten or forty years later – we can still recall it all, like it was yesterday because those moments grew in importance. You likely didn’t have a clue what would happen to you when you woke up on those incredible days with no strategy, agenda or theme – you were just there, open to opportunity and possibly ~
- when you first met someone who changed your life
- when you first tried something that became a passion
- when you first tripped over an idea that changed your direction
In those ‘first moments’, did you know?
I’ve had a few stunning moments like that.
But few. I didn’t notice them at the time because those moments rarely stand out at their happening. Most often, that comes later, longer, and much richer in the end.
Unexpected experiences aren’t really qualified as surprises. Not like somebody stepping around that corner to say “BOO”.
But things we might consider, plan for or anticipate and then, when they happen, we are introduced to the unexpected. I know that today is important because it might – as they all are – be filled with magic moments. Not sure which.
Some won’t matter; they’ll just fill space.
Some may matter more than anything. I’ll be witness to that.
Some may pass, like gas, and some may stay with me forever.
OK, forever is a bold prediction, so I’ll simply say ‘a long time’.
Oh … and to winter, welcome!
Mark Kolke
200,392
column written/ published from Calgary
morning walk: -14C / 6F, overcast, calm, light snow falling … Gusta having a great time crusty drifts, looking so surprised each time her weight breaks through – fresh air is fantastic, mountain air blowing in from points west . . .
Comments Received:
Best wishes for a wonderful and relaxing Christmas and every success in 2014. May it be a year of great health, happiness and prosperity. In light of your piece today I’m going to strongly recommend you read Left to Tell, the book I gave you back in the summer at our lunch. It is a compelling read and truly uplifting!! One thing I know, it will impact you. All the best, and I look forward to golfing with you again next year!! Kind regards, PT, Calgary
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