We didn’t realize we were making memories, we were having fun.
A.A. MILNE
Isn’t that life? We get so immersed in our experiences, the fact that it is generating memories is mostly a background element (until the invention of the selfie). As a photographer, I was snapping pics of all of it going all the way back. When the camera became democratized and auto focus / auto exposure cameras became a thing and instamatic cameras came about, more people joined in on the fun. With the iPhone and smart devices, the collection of memories became exponential.
Today is one of those road signs in life. It is the one you can look back on with some clarity and remember where you were on this year or that one. Who you were with. What you might have been feeling or hoping. Which resolutions you were set to enforce. What your greatest dreams were on that date.
The new year, clean slate is all a psychological phenomenon that has become such a large part of our beings. Representing solely another trip for us around the Sun, we are embodying this experience with all of our life memories because time represents the marker by which we watch our lives pass.
It is a filter through which we pause and explore where we have been and where we are going. We connect with one another and revel in the collected feelings of happiness. We let our politics and religious divides drop and all of humanity wishes one another a Happy New Year!
Tomorrow, we resume the divide, the continual struggle, the push for making the world evolve in a direction that pleases us.
But for today, we are having fun, enjoying one another’s friendship and making memories to last a lifetime.
Finding our footing in times of need is a life skill that all of us must shoulder when the moment arrives at our door. The moment comes in countless forms and for myriad reasons, far too numerous to count. Some are small, while others are larger than life. In many cases, the scope of the problem is in direct relation to the person experiencing it. I am certain we have all counseled someone going through something that we, on the outside looking in, see for what it is, and see the solution as clear as day. But when you are the person who is weathering the experience, it is as vast as can be imagined and the impact it is having on us can be incalculable.
When those moments in life hit, they literally take our breath away. It feels like having been punched in the solar plexus, and causes a moment of sheer panic, whilst we gasp for air. In that moment of panic, where the air is not instantly forthcoming, our world is spinning completely out of control. Everything feels massively overwhelming. That is the point in life where this aphorism is of most value. Circumstances appear to be overwhelming, the cause of the circumstances seems indomitable and we are looking everywhere for that metaphorical life raft.
The ability to stay calm under pressure is not a skill that any of us are born with. It is a learned skill that is honed from each of our experiences that we ultimately conquer. If we look back at our life path, we all can recollect moments that felt as if the whole world was falling in. What we did to grow through that moment and emerge a better person on the other side stack up in our collective consciousness as resources from which to pull when our next circumstance rears its ugly head with intent to destroy our current happiness. The second time that a similar problem from the past arises, we are better at taking it on than the first time, and so we move through life, working and evolving as beings, trying at every stage to distance ourselves from the fears that overwhelmed us at an earlier age.
We grow by exposing ourselves to dangers of our own choosing. In those exposures, we discover ever greater internal resources that were not present earlier, and use them as the staircase to rise above the danger and elevate us to higher ground from which we may take personal inventory and then expose ourselves to the next round of dangers of our own choosing.
Winnie the Pooh not withstanding, A. A. Milne was very adept at finding some of those most precious moments that defined our youth and gave us cause to mature and grow wiser. I remember we had When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six in our home when I was growing up. I would look through them, but they never really captured my attention until I was an adult, looking backwards, in warm remembrances of my youth.
In the end, the core strength we all rely upon is our belief system. The brain is omnipowerful and the warehouse of stored experiences we amass over the course of a lifetime is far more expansive than we might recollect without a guided journey showing you how many of these moments you may have prevailed over and how you were most capable of finding your internal strength at a moment where you were metaphorically gasping for breath.
Life is most certainly not easy. But the journey that sculpts us is fascinating and delivers so many unique moments of value as to color a lifetime in a rainbow of experiences from which we blossom.
Happy Tuesday!
If you like what you are reading in the blog, you will even love the book more. Take a free preview below and watch the Sizzle Reel. It will give you a sense of how this book might be of help in your life when you are looking to make some tough decisions.
Specially priced at $11.11 for those who are tuned in.
We are given opportunities to bring some of the most special people or animals into our world, in countless ways and in the course of life (and death) we are forced to summon the strength to say goodbye.
Some goodbyes are short term, and others are permanent. Both carry emotional impact that can leave us feeling a range of emotions from sad to devastated.
Emotions notwithstanding…. The ability to compartmentalize that sadness and remain focused on how incredibly fortunate we were to have had that person or animal or experience or circumstance in our world for the period it existed and appreciate its value in our life, is the true wealth.
The impermanence of life is the certainty. Life is transient. So the opportunity to focus on the variables that make us feel alive and vibrant is where our real treasure lies. There are countless examples that I shan’t expound upon. We have all gone through them.
But yesterday, I had the opportunity to say hello again to something that I had said goodbye to more than a year ago, and the reunion was magic. Pure magic.
I went to the movies.
Movies have always been my most favorite art form, bar none. I have seen more than 10,000 films and seeing them in the theater is still a totally different joy for me than watching on my TV at home.
The selection of films out at the moment is dismal. The film I saw, Wrath of Man, was mediocre. But sitting in the theatre again made me feel like I was 5 years old again! I can’t express the joy, exhilaration and vibrance of being back to something that had been ripped away from my life.
No comparison to losing a loved one, loved animal, or any other loss we might experience, but it was a reminder that when you are reunited with something you were forced to say goodbye to, you are suddenly overcome with an unspeakable joy. And that joy stems from an understanding of what that experience, person, animal or other has made you feel. And those feelings stem from how lucky you were to have had it in the first place.
Thought for a Sunday.
If you like my posts, I would be so appreciative if you would share them with friends. The entire purpose of my doing this on a daily basis is to help improve my life and the lives of others around the world. Thank you!
If you like what you are reading in the blog, you will even love the book more. Take a free preview below and watch the Sizzle Reel. It will give you a sense of how this book might be of help in your life when you are looking to make some tough decisions.
Changing the world…One thought at a time.
This book is written for you. Whether you are just embarking on your journey in life, or if you are a seasoned veteran, we all have so much more to learn. Lessons from the Mountain is a conversational exploration of countless topics of personal and professional self help.
Mr. Weiner has collected a diverse assortment of thoughts from the great sages of the last two millennia, each sparking personalized discussions, intended to stimulate you into deeper contemplation of the subjects that intrigue you.
Leveraging his experiences in building The Illusion Factory and then, Sizzle, Mr. Weiner reflects on numerous moments of engagement that are relevant to all of us as we navigate our path in life.
In this zen entrepreneurial discussion, the myriad topics range from:
• Narrowing choices to increase opportunity
• Assuaging a hurt ego
• Managing the depression that comes with a failure
• Learning to continuously improve
• Owning your mistakes
• Increasing your likelihood for success
• Making ethical choices
• Pursuing seemingly impossible goals
• Coping with a loss
• Making unpopular decisions
• Communicating with compassion
• Learning to collaborate with others more skilled than you
• Accepting your reality, while working to change it
• Stopping bullies in their tracks
• Letting go of anger
• Deepening self-respect
• Understanding love
• Making the planet a better place
• Taking giant risks and succeeding
• The elusive pursuit of happiness
• The art of honesty and friendship
• Following your heart
• Overcoming PTSD
• Learning when to become impartial
• Questioning reality
• The probability of UFOs
• Attracting positive outcomes
• The benefits of being a zen entrepreneur
and many other interesting topics of exploration.
The book has been written over a couple of years of climbing a mountain in the darkness in order to be atop for the sunrise. Photos from those journeys accompany the beautifully illustrated aphorisms, whose content spark each of the philosophical discussions.
