I had a Marine Base Moment once too, several years ago, right after my first breast cancer diagnosis. I had switched to a raw vegan diet in response to the diagnosis (one of my character defects is to love the illusion that I can control things like cancer) and I was eating a bowl of fruit in a friend's garden. The sun broke through the tree canopy and poured into me, poured into all of the plants around me, while I enjoyed bites of plants into which the sun had poured and created sugar and fiber and nutrients. I felt the oneness of all of it, the fruit and the human, the sun and the fruit and the human, the plants and the sun and the fruit and the human. All one. I'll never forget that moment of transcendence, of seeing the truth of all things. What a miracle it all is.
Thank you for sharing your story, Maggie. Who knew Marine bases were such a common setting for the sudden onset of unitive consciousness? 🤷♂️ "All one." Beautiful.
As I was reading your gorgeous post, I received my It’s Wellness Wednesday, from a girlfriend who is in a soul sister fellowship group chat with me. I thought How lucky am I? That’s real abundance to me. Then I thought hmmm…interesting bc I often Feel how unlucky am I… I can intellectualize every night how grateful I am as I write my gratitude list, but how lucky do I actually feel?
Your post evoked many images of watching myself help others every day, bring that open heart into beautiful connections, savor my beloved morning coffee, watch the wind blow so many beautiful things, however, your words reminded me they often get lost in the detours that intercept, and I lose the Feeling of it. Today I will attempt to be in the current of the deeper feelings and see the light already there…shine through them.
Marilyn, it makes me so, so happy to think of you not waiting until the end of the day to think about gratitude, but truly savoring it in the little moments throughout the whole day. I hope to hear how it opened your heart even further!
Beautiful. I am going to bring my journal to work and not let the beauty of this day slip by like so many others in tasks and busyness. At least for one day.
I read fewer and fewer posts/articles/text these days, choosing instead to really be in my environment. This one beckoned, and I'm so glad I read it. It will stick. Thank you for this simple, but oft-ignored (bc we're so busy) advice.
Sue, I can relate to this. I find myself reading less, listening to fewer podcasts and such, just not wanting to be distracted from life as it is happening. I'm honored you would pull your attention away and give some of it to my writing. 🙏
The philosophy behind this essay today reminded me so much of a book I just finished reading a few days ago by Oliver Burkeman called FOUR THOUSAND WEEKS. He tells us that much of our distraction and anxiety relates to our sense of time being something that is ahead of us or that is "running out," when in reality we are living within the context of time. And only when we enter into it -- here, now -- can we fully embrace whatever this moment intends to teach us.
Also, may I just add that you are the master of one-liners? I love the substance you are able to pack into one sentence.
Thank you for your kind words, Jeannie. And I love trading book recommendations with you! A river as a metaphor for time is sort of problematic, isn't it? Because we can picture “upriver” and “downriver.” Time is more like a ball being thrown. It’s only ever present in one place. We only have a memory of where it was and a guess about where it’s going. I’m intrigued by the book!
Oh that makes so much sense, Kelly. A river does have that strange sense of flow upwards and backwards, but still could be used to describe time in the sense that time is a continuum of past, present, and future. We exist in the present, but the past and future still exist (or have existed), so all three of them could meld into the flow of a river and its currents or different directions of movement. Just a thought.
I do like the ball metaphor for describing where we are NOW. Now is what matters when it comes to how we choose to live, I believe. At least that is true for me. The past shapes what I know about myself and life experiences, but I can’t dwell in the mindset of what’s already come to pass. And I certainly can’t expect some nebulous future to take shape or worry about what might come to be. All I can do is show up today and move forward in the place I find myself in.
First thought...pain. My knee, it's from a torn ACL yeaes ago and has been acting up lately, and then there are other pains too, age and weight related.
Second thought...I like nature, it is pleasant and has been comforting at times but, it doesn't do much for me lately. I've not enjoyed any spring nuance or the air beyond noting it was pleasant.
Final thought...I might be on the verge of a major event again. I take stress better than I used to but I recognized a similarity in some huge feelings I had about an upcoming exam for a certification. Much like when I came home from several years of military training to try to get into grad school. The professor of my soon to be graduate cohort asked me what else I needed to get in. I had done a paper to demonstrate research and writing skills, I had filled out all the applications. I just needed a passing GRE score. (Quick flashback of the previous 3 or 4 years I had taken a GRE prep course and bombed the practice tests so hard I gave up thinking I could get into grad school so easily and looked to a career move which ended up with me in the Army National Guard...so no authentic prep in the last 3 + years. But I had studied for a huge language exam and worked on standardized test taking skills while in the Army language school) So the professor asked me, can you get the GRE done in the next week? I said yes sir and signed up for it and took it sucessfully and moved on with life.
It was harrowing, but I had no time to sit and think about any "what ifs", I just did it and made a huge life choice that affected the rest if my life.
I'm seeing a parallel in my next effort in about a week or two. On top of it all I am less than 3 years from 50 and in need of physical life adjustments to mitigate potential serious life consequences for my health. It's all on me all at once and, I'm taking it like a champ but I know it's not a smooth and internally "well being" type of calm I have. I'm just moving. I'm not quiting and I don't know that I will pause much unless I find a way to force myself to try it in some way.
JC, I’m thrilled for you! I can hear in your words how invigorated you are by the big steps you’re taking. I’m dying to know what it is a certification for???
Donald Miller says purpose is experienced in action, not contemplation. It sounds like that might be what you’re experiencing. It’s an extra challenge to balance that action with self-care and a break here and there to smell the roses, so to speak, but I believe in you!
To satisfy your curiosity I'm in the last steps of preparation to become a Certified Professional in Talent Development. It's a certification offered through the Association for Talent Development. Basically it's the top training geek qualification offered by a group of top training geeks. This certification is intended for people with a reasonable amount of Taraining Administration experience and is typically attached to professionals who do director or senior manager level jobs in training administration. It's part of a personal plan I have to steer my career upward withing the next 8 years before trying to break free if corporate servitude on my last tens years before retiring. All pending whatever God has in store for me otherwise. Bottom line, I want to be more valuable (funny saying that among this group) in my career so I can earn more and retire comfortably. I have actual numbers associated with "comfort" in my plan and I need a boost to achieve them traditionally. There are less conventional or traditional ways to accumulate financial security but I figure I needed a plan so any alternates woukd be comparable so as to have the ability to make decisions in a relatively informed way.
I still have more plans but this particular part began 1 year ago and my online prep course expires at the end of this month. It's "do or die" time. Maybe not that dramatic but it feels big to me none the less.
JC, I’m truly thrilled for you! I know doing something like this is something you’ve contemplated for a while now. I admire you for taking a big step in this direction!
Thank you for your beautiful expression of experiencing one day. God has been urging me to get back to walking in this way daily as I am recovered from a flu, after which my sense of appreciation for everything has exponentially increased. Starting each day in my journal with God, setting the pace for hearing Him, “I am with you,” and thinking of Him being with me moment by moment, as I say, “Thank you,” to it all, the fragrances of Spring wafting through the air, the sounds of birds delighting in the warmer air. It really comes down to those little things. I am glad I could read your words with my morning coffee and find out we’re not alone in this beckoning to the simple life, listening to the quiet.
It may be because I’m 71 years old and have been walking with the Lord since 1980. Years of practice! But we do tend to get distracted in this life. Just like riding a bicycle, though, it all comes back once we remember to pay attention, slow down, breathe, and remember God is right here with us. Blessings on your new day!
This aging and ‘being’ is an elusive thing. Naturally- I am ‘trying’ to ‘be’. That’s now how it works, of course, and I am not sure what else to ‘do’. 😬 I am listening to the Dali Lama and Desmond Tutu’s book on Joy to see what these wise elders have to say on the subject.
That’s a fantastic book! Having said that, shortly after you and I parted ways at Heartland, I made a New Year’s resolution that I wasn’t going to read anymore books about being present. I was going to start practicing mindfulness and meditation. It was a game-changer for me. I think it was the foundation on which everything that happened afterward was built.
Thank you, Don! “Impersonation" is on the short drop-down list when you report an account, so it must be relatively common. Thanks again for the quick heads-up. I’d have woken up to a mess in the morning!
I loved noticing the indentation in the mattress. I remember a woman talking about the poppy seeds all over the floor and counter from her husband's daily bagel habit. Until there were no more seeds. We never know. Your writing is so beautiful, Kelly.
Thank you, Jane. I deleted two paragraphs about the Portuguese word, saudade. It means the presence of absence. Like poppy seeds that aren’t there anymore. ❤️
poignant, thought-provoking, beautiful. Thank you.
Thank you, Gloria. 🙏
I had a Marine Base Moment once too, several years ago, right after my first breast cancer diagnosis. I had switched to a raw vegan diet in response to the diagnosis (one of my character defects is to love the illusion that I can control things like cancer) and I was eating a bowl of fruit in a friend's garden. The sun broke through the tree canopy and poured into me, poured into all of the plants around me, while I enjoyed bites of plants into which the sun had poured and created sugar and fiber and nutrients. I felt the oneness of all of it, the fruit and the human, the sun and the fruit and the human, the plants and the sun and the fruit and the human. All one. I'll never forget that moment of transcendence, of seeing the truth of all things. What a miracle it all is.
That sounds live a divine moment.
It really was!
Thank you for sharing your story, Maggie. Who knew Marine bases were such a common setting for the sudden onset of unitive consciousness? 🤷♂️ "All one." Beautiful.
As I was reading your gorgeous post, I received my It’s Wellness Wednesday, from a girlfriend who is in a soul sister fellowship group chat with me. I thought How lucky am I? That’s real abundance to me. Then I thought hmmm…interesting bc I often Feel how unlucky am I… I can intellectualize every night how grateful I am as I write my gratitude list, but how lucky do I actually feel?
Your post evoked many images of watching myself help others every day, bring that open heart into beautiful connections, savor my beloved morning coffee, watch the wind blow so many beautiful things, however, your words reminded me they often get lost in the detours that intercept, and I lose the Feeling of it. Today I will attempt to be in the current of the deeper feelings and see the light already there…shine through them.
Namaste Kelly 🙏😇
Marilyn, it makes me so, so happy to think of you not waiting until the end of the day to think about gratitude, but truly savoring it in the little moments throughout the whole day. I hope to hear how it opened your heart even further!
Beautiful. I am going to bring my journal to work and not let the beauty of this day slip by like so many others in tasks and busyness. At least for one day.
Sheila, I love that you're that you're not artificially sequestering beauty into someplace other than work. I trust you saw some of it there too. 😊
In the deepest depths
there is darkness and danger.
Also, profound peace.
…
In the highest heights
there is coldness and harsh winds.
A glorious view too.
…
In grand depths and heights
there are risks and the unknown.
And closeness to truth?
This is profound poem.
I'm with Corie, this is beautiful, Marisol. Thank you for gifting it to is. 🙏
I read fewer and fewer posts/articles/text these days, choosing instead to really be in my environment. This one beckoned, and I'm so glad I read it. It will stick. Thank you for this simple, but oft-ignored (bc we're so busy) advice.
Sue, I can relate to this. I find myself reading less, listening to fewer podcasts and such, just not wanting to be distracted from life as it is happening. I'm honored you would pull your attention away and give some of it to my writing. 🙏
":The greatest gift was the humility of having been so wrong all along." -- Thank you for sharing this gift with us here.
And thank YOU for showing up here with such an encouraging spirit, Corie. 🙏
Kelly,
The philosophy behind this essay today reminded me so much of a book I just finished reading a few days ago by Oliver Burkeman called FOUR THOUSAND WEEKS. He tells us that much of our distraction and anxiety relates to our sense of time being something that is ahead of us or that is "running out," when in reality we are living within the context of time. And only when we enter into it -- here, now -- can we fully embrace whatever this moment intends to teach us.
Also, may I just add that you are the master of one-liners? I love the substance you are able to pack into one sentence.
Thank you for your kind words, Jeannie. And I love trading book recommendations with you! A river as a metaphor for time is sort of problematic, isn't it? Because we can picture “upriver” and “downriver.” Time is more like a ball being thrown. It’s only ever present in one place. We only have a memory of where it was and a guess about where it’s going. I’m intrigued by the book!
Oh that makes so much sense, Kelly. A river does have that strange sense of flow upwards and backwards, but still could be used to describe time in the sense that time is a continuum of past, present, and future. We exist in the present, but the past and future still exist (or have existed), so all three of them could meld into the flow of a river and its currents or different directions of movement. Just a thought.
I do like the ball metaphor for describing where we are NOW. Now is what matters when it comes to how we choose to live, I believe. At least that is true for me. The past shapes what I know about myself and life experiences, but I can’t dwell in the mindset of what’s already come to pass. And I certainly can’t expect some nebulous future to take shape or worry about what might come to be. All I can do is show up today and move forward in the place I find myself in.
First thought...pain. My knee, it's from a torn ACL yeaes ago and has been acting up lately, and then there are other pains too, age and weight related.
Second thought...I like nature, it is pleasant and has been comforting at times but, it doesn't do much for me lately. I've not enjoyed any spring nuance or the air beyond noting it was pleasant.
Final thought...I might be on the verge of a major event again. I take stress better than I used to but I recognized a similarity in some huge feelings I had about an upcoming exam for a certification. Much like when I came home from several years of military training to try to get into grad school. The professor of my soon to be graduate cohort asked me what else I needed to get in. I had done a paper to demonstrate research and writing skills, I had filled out all the applications. I just needed a passing GRE score. (Quick flashback of the previous 3 or 4 years I had taken a GRE prep course and bombed the practice tests so hard I gave up thinking I could get into grad school so easily and looked to a career move which ended up with me in the Army National Guard...so no authentic prep in the last 3 + years. But I had studied for a huge language exam and worked on standardized test taking skills while in the Army language school) So the professor asked me, can you get the GRE done in the next week? I said yes sir and signed up for it and took it sucessfully and moved on with life.
It was harrowing, but I had no time to sit and think about any "what ifs", I just did it and made a huge life choice that affected the rest if my life.
I'm seeing a parallel in my next effort in about a week or two. On top of it all I am less than 3 years from 50 and in need of physical life adjustments to mitigate potential serious life consequences for my health. It's all on me all at once and, I'm taking it like a champ but I know it's not a smooth and internally "well being" type of calm I have. I'm just moving. I'm not quiting and I don't know that I will pause much unless I find a way to force myself to try it in some way.
JC, I’m thrilled for you! I can hear in your words how invigorated you are by the big steps you’re taking. I’m dying to know what it is a certification for???
Donald Miller says purpose is experienced in action, not contemplation. It sounds like that might be what you’re experiencing. It’s an extra challenge to balance that action with self-care and a break here and there to smell the roses, so to speak, but I believe in you!
To satisfy your curiosity I'm in the last steps of preparation to become a Certified Professional in Talent Development. It's a certification offered through the Association for Talent Development. Basically it's the top training geek qualification offered by a group of top training geeks. This certification is intended for people with a reasonable amount of Taraining Administration experience and is typically attached to professionals who do director or senior manager level jobs in training administration. It's part of a personal plan I have to steer my career upward withing the next 8 years before trying to break free if corporate servitude on my last tens years before retiring. All pending whatever God has in store for me otherwise. Bottom line, I want to be more valuable (funny saying that among this group) in my career so I can earn more and retire comfortably. I have actual numbers associated with "comfort" in my plan and I need a boost to achieve them traditionally. There are less conventional or traditional ways to accumulate financial security but I figure I needed a plan so any alternates woukd be comparable so as to have the ability to make decisions in a relatively informed way.
I still have more plans but this particular part began 1 year ago and my online prep course expires at the end of this month. It's "do or die" time. Maybe not that dramatic but it feels big to me none the less.
JC, I’m truly thrilled for you! I know doing something like this is something you’ve contemplated for a while now. I admire you for taking a big step in this direction!
so lovely ! Thank you! needed that this morning
I’m glad it arrived at the right time for you, Michele!
Thank you for your beautiful expression of experiencing one day. God has been urging me to get back to walking in this way daily as I am recovered from a flu, after which my sense of appreciation for everything has exponentially increased. Starting each day in my journal with God, setting the pace for hearing Him, “I am with you,” and thinking of Him being with me moment by moment, as I say, “Thank you,” to it all, the fragrances of Spring wafting through the air, the sounds of birds delighting in the warmer air. It really comes down to those little things. I am glad I could read your words with my morning coffee and find out we’re not alone in this beckoning to the simple life, listening to the quiet.
Wendy, I’m quite moved by your sense of being closely accompanied in your life. That is something I’d like to be more sensitive to, as well.
And yes, it really is the little things, isn't it?
It may be because I’m 71 years old and have been walking with the Lord since 1980. Years of practice! But we do tend to get distracted in this life. Just like riding a bicycle, though, it all comes back once we remember to pay attention, slow down, breathe, and remember God is right here with us. Blessings on your new day!
Ooh, I love the idea of attention being like riding a bicycle. So good, Wendy!
Thanks, Kelly, for this post.
This aging and ‘being’ is an elusive thing. Naturally- I am ‘trying’ to ‘be’. That’s now how it works, of course, and I am not sure what else to ‘do’. 😬 I am listening to the Dali Lama and Desmond Tutu’s book on Joy to see what these wise elders have to say on the subject.
That’s a fantastic book! Having said that, shortly after you and I parted ways at Heartland, I made a New Year’s resolution that I wasn’t going to read anymore books about being present. I was going to start practicing mindfulness and meditation. It was a game-changer for me. I think it was the foundation on which everything that happened afterward was built.
Wonderful stuff, Kelly. Such a pleasure to read! 🙏💚
Thank you for being here, Don, and thank you for your kind words! 🙏
Oh, no, Kelly, have you been hacked? Check out the comment just below this one.
Thank you, Don! I’m going to be tagging you in a thank you/PSA Note!
Cool. Now that you’ve seen it I’ll block and report.
Thank you, Don! “Impersonation" is on the short drop-down list when you report an account, so it must be relatively common. Thanks again for the quick heads-up. I’d have woken up to a mess in the morning!
Gorgeous. Thank you, Kelly.
You’re welcome, Cathy, and thank you. 🙏
I loved noticing the indentation in the mattress. I remember a woman talking about the poppy seeds all over the floor and counter from her husband's daily bagel habit. Until there were no more seeds. We never know. Your writing is so beautiful, Kelly.
Thank you, Jane. I deleted two paragraphs about the Portuguese word, saudade. It means the presence of absence. Like poppy seeds that aren’t there anymore. ❤️
@Kelly Flanagan did you see this comment? It doesn’t sound like you.
Thank you so much, Jane! I’m going to be tagging you in a thank you/PSA Note!
Also I could still see the note so I reported it just now as impersonation.
What a sweet reminder of how precious our time here really is...I will be in this day more present, thank you!!
I’m so glad it resonated with you that way, Susan!