Moments II

You have beautiful moments layered in your memory… I know you do. In fact, you probably have too many to count. You may have lost some with the passage of time, but you have the ability to recall a moment when you were at your most significant. It was when you were sitting around with your friends and you suddenly realized that you were surrounded by goodness. It was when you committed to a partner to stick with them through thick or thin. It was when you felt the white sand beach between your toes. It was something else that I cannot put into words for you because it is so personal or intimate, or it simply lacks sufficient literary expression.

Your moments are when you were filled with contentedness or joy or gratitude or wonder or peacefulness. Perhaps you felt like the world “stood still”. They are the good times, however you may chose to define them. And, to put it bluntly, they make life worth living.

Often we try to capture the essence of the moment, so that we can return to re-live the goodness. Yet how exactly do we capture these moments?

In earlier times, we committed them to memory by the retelling of significant events. Our wondrous moments became stories that were told with animation around mid-night fires. Each time the story was told with different flavour, with emphasis on various words or points in the narration. The memory of our moments would evolve.

We then learned how to draw and paint. We drew basic representations of objects and ideas, and slowly these evolved to life-like paintings of complete scenes and people with facial expressions that added new depth and texture to the re-creation of moments. As we became more precise in our representations, so did the precision of returning to the core emotions of a moment.

As we drew, we created a system of little symbols that represented sounds. When arranged in certain ways, these little symbols would form words, which in term represented various concepts or objects. The words would come together to form sentences, and then sentences to form paragraphs, and paragraphs to stories. We began to write our moments out with ink and paper, so that we could go back and re-experience their magic. Words became a way to travel back in time.

Now our primary mode of returning to our most contented moments is through photography. We click away endlessly with hopes that we will somehow capture the goodness of the moment, so that we can return and re-experience the emotion. With digital photography and video recording, the amount that we can now document is stifling. We are able to capture the landscapes and events of a moment with ease, but even these tools have their limitations.

Perhaps there is a greater reason why we cannot ever fully experience a moment again. Perhaps it is in the best interest of human survival if we are forced to continually seek new joy, rather than re-live older pleasures. Maybe this is what keeps us going – the quest for good feelings and the hope that we will experience pleasant moments again.

Yet despite our inabilities to completely return to a moment, most of us still try to document our times of joy, laughter, achievement, and togetherness. I suppose there is something comforting in taking a photograph or writing a journal; these recorded moments give us something to hold on to. A photo album is a collection of roots, in the sense that it can ground us and give order or connectedness within chaos.

I guess that we try to hold onto moments to create meaning – so that we are not simply random organisms living a series of random events. In capturing our moments, we are able to assemble them into our life’s greatest work… our own life stories. It is a powerful thought to imagine that we can be our own authors.

Who doesn’t want to write a beautiful story filled with beautiful moments?

Your story is coming together.


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Moments

Talent (for caring)

Happy Earth Day!

Isn't it funny that we need a day to celebrate and care about the earth? It's like having "oxygen day" or "brain appreciation day", why would we not be celebratory everyday for that which gives us life?

Anyway, I'll save the rant.

Instead, here's a little earth-lovin' tune by one of Canada's finest singer/songwriters... Sarah Harmer.

Enjoy!

Talent

This illustration was done by a man near and dear to my heart... Mr. Leonard Cohen. For me, it sums up the never-ending process of our individual evolution. No matter how accomplished we may become, there is always the next level to attain.

And sometimes we just wish we could have a special skill or talent (that we might not ever attain), such as playing the violin or taking beautiful photos or running a 3-hour marathon or being clairvoyant.

What is your hidden, under-developed talent?

tree/plugs

Here's the second installation of "tree/plugs". These are some simple recommendations based on the best of what life has offered up recently. Keep me posted if you have suggestions!

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[heard] Lucinda Williams. Named as “America’s Best Songwriter” by Time Magazine in 2002, Lucinda released a new album in February entitled WEST, it follows a similar format to her other albums, however this one perhaps a bit more grittier than recent works. She knows how to take a subject, find minimal (yet succinct) lyrics, and inject it with delicate wisdom. It’s the kind of music that you return to and keep finding layers.

In WEST, Lucinda starts out strong with Are You Alright, a medium paced “drivin’ in the country” song where she simply asks about the wellbeing of a friend who has drifted off. It is an anthem to the folks with whom we’ve lost touch. Another favourite is What if… a song that explores an alternative world where things are turned upside down, “I shudder to think/ what it would mean/ if the president wore pink/ or if a prostitute was queen.” Finally, in classic Lucinda fashion, she finishes with a song that could soften the Rocky Mountains. The title track, West, is an ode to openness; it is stretching out in the sun and letting yourself be warmed. We could all use a bit of that.

I’ll be on the next plane… heading west.



[read] The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho). After a recent craving for inspiration, I picked up this fable for the second time. It was a much needed refresher – although it might not be for everyone. I hover between writing it off for its religious undertones to proclaiming it as one of the best pieces of literature ever written. It appeals to certain beliefs that I hold: we speak a single language (we are one) and that, by following our dreams, we help the world become better. It is a story for our souls.

Read it. Tell me what you think.




[seen] Microcosmos. Warning, seeing this movie may cause you to give up escargots forever. Never have snails been so… oh I don’t know… sensual and erotic? The filmmakers take us inside the purposeful world of insects, a world that most of us never actually witness at this level of intimacy. The entire film is set to classical music draped over colourful insect images. It goes beyond bug fornication, to unveil the mini-realities of the heroes of our ecosystems. You really have to see it to believe it.

It is almost enough to make me forgive all the blackflies in the world… almost.



[experienced] Facebook. The age of anonymity is officially over. The world’s hottest online profiling website, Facebook, now offers us the opportunity to reconnect with everyone from our pasts… even those folks that you spent a decade trying to forget. It becomes an addiction. Suddenly you are having disjointed conversations with people who you haven’t seen in years… hmmm, can I sum up the past 10 years in three sentences?

"Acquired some wisdom via post-secondary education, dead-end jobs, and humbling backpacking trips. Lines around the eyes indicate an attempt to look deeper into things. Blundered at love (multiple times over)… but still going back for more. Daniel = gratified."

Shit. Well I guess 3.5 sentences will work.

Reginald's Law of Realization

This column is dedicated to two individuals: Terry Kyle (for your warmth and energy) and to my father (for teaching me adventure).

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The semester is wrapping up quickly. After exams are conquered, some of us will keep trudging away through spring classes, some of us will commence our summer employment, and some of us will be closing a chapter of our lives, with university degrees completed.

For those who are not returning, it can be tough to say goodbye to school… heck, it can be tough to say goodbye to a lot of things. But university is an especially formative time for many people. I know that when I finish (next April), I will leave deeply impacted by my university years. How will I make the transition from school to “the next phase”? I often wonder how will my life be different when I finish. Where will I be in 5 years?

Life is pretty random; we don’t always know where we’ll end up.

For instance, as I write this, my father (Reginald) is just north of Nowheresville, Ontario in an 18-wheel cargo truck heading east with a random man named “Oscar”.

For this little anecdote to make sense, allow me to take you back a couple of months…

On one snowy day in February, I returned to my computer (after a procrastinating pause to pluck my nose hairs) to find a slew of MSN messages from my father (who lives in Prince George, BC) telling me about his highlight of the day (usually this involves walking to get the mail). This particular message was not unlike any of the other rambling messages that I have received… until I got to the end.

“By the way, Dan, I think I’ll hitchhike across Canada to visit you in April.”

“Sure Dad”, I thought, “I’ll just paddle my canoe to Winnipeg to meet you. Then for shits and giggles, we’ll build a hot-air balloon from corncobs and fly to the Galapagos Islands to observe endangered albino dingbats.” My father… what a kook!

But not one to scoff at adventure, Reginald decided that his thumb could (and would) get him to Montreal. He hit the highway last Monday with a brown bag lunch, a backpack, and a faith that humanity would get him where he wanted to go.

Well, “humanity” took him to Red Deer, Alberta that day. But then it carried him through the prairies, north across the Great Lakes, and soon he will arrive into Toronto.

My father’s trip is becoming a learning experience for all of us. It turns out that hitchhiking in the snow kind of sucks, but that truckers are generally pretty nice (if not desperately in need of social interaction). Shortly into his trip, a talkative trucker from El Salvador picked up my snow-covered father from the side of the road. The two have become “Highway One” buddies for a couple thousand kilometers now.

Once in Toronto, Reginald plans to take the train up to Montreal. He left me a weary sounding phone message last night, “After 4000 kilometers of keeping people company, I can’t wait to get a seat to myself and to not talk to anyone.” Fair enough, I say.

I must admit that I admire my father’s sense of adventure. He has a deep-rooted theory that everything he needs in life will somehow be provided. I think Reginald’s theory shall soon be declared as “Reginald’s Law of Realization” – ask what you need, and it shall be realized.

So if you are saying “au revoir” to a certain stage in your life, good luck with transitioning into work or travels or whatever is next for you. Endings are also beginnings (but it’s okay to get sad anyway). I hope you go forth with a couple of lessons. I’ve learned a few things myself recently…

Sometimes a good ride will cost us nothing. Sometimes a willingness to talk to people will get us far. And sometimes we simply need space to be alone.

I guess it just takes a bit of courage to put your thumb out and hope that there might be a few good souls to help you get where you want to go.

May your next chapter be filled with good people and a bit of adventure…

Chocolate

This is a delicious little article from CBC...


Wondering whether you can indulge in that chocolate bunny staring at you from the box without compromising your healthy diet?

Well, if you're a lover of chocolate, you may be in luck. There is increasing evidence that chocolate can be part of a healthy diet - and that it may even offer some specific health benefits.

However, not all chocolate is created equal. Read on to find out how to incorporate this treat into your diet and get the most of what it has to offer.


mmmm... take me there!

Junk

All this talk of global warming has created a need for an introspective piano ballad.

We've torn forests apart, stripped the oceans of fish, and created so much junk in landfills.

What are we going to do with all this junk?