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Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Alive-est

Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. If we follow the truth, it will bring us out safe at last. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
~~~~~~~
I'm not a travelling man, but three or four of weeks ago, I traveled four hours from home because someone had caught my eye.  Four hours to determine if I was mistaking my imagination for memory.


So, I hopped in the car with no intel and an extremely underdeveloped plan.  And I started driving.  It was in that instance that I came Alive.  The car ride is still vivid.  I can see the sun slipping below the horizon as I glanced out the window.  I remember the meal I ordered at the Wendy's in St. Cloud.  Every mile brought me further into the unknown and I became more aware; my senses absorbing information in preparation.   


I stayed in Minneapolis for two nights.  Every waking second is imprinted in my mind.  This isn't an instance where someone asks you what you did last weekend and you try to piece it together.  No, I can tell you 

  • that I walked out of my room at exactly 11:57am, 
  • that the old lady at the T-mobile store was wearing a red blouse,
  •  that the cashier at Gap was a brunette with a white blouse and black pants, 
  • that a spanish speaking woman had a crying baby in the dressing room next to me,
  •  that I had the new grilled chicken and cheddar sandwich from Potbelly's with harvest cheddar sun chips, sat in the booth directly behind an Indian couple, and a pregnant wife w/ husband came in as I sat down
  • that at the first park I visited an elderly couple walked past me as I left the car, there was a young black woman with three small children on the swings and a trio of black men sitting by a grey car in the parking lot 
These are a few of the many details I remember. These details that people would call "minor" are literally burned into my mind.  Being in a situation with no plan, with no sure direction of what you're going to do, or how the day would end forces the mind to anchor every seeming minor detail.  


And when I encountered the reason for the journey, I was ALIVE (notice the caps).  I felt as if I was picking up cues, making judgments, and walking a path that I didn't make but that materialized one step at a time.  The nervousness and excitement that swept over me was thrilling.  I was attuned.  I was completely There.  That doesn't happen often enough.


Harnessing that level of awareness, being Alive at that level would be amazing.  What could I create and accomplish if I could train my mind to Be There and grab the answers from around me.  Easier said that done, but a feat worth attempting.  Great weekend overall.




Oh and it was definitely Memory.  



In response to...
When did you feel most alive recently? Where were you? What did you smell? What sights and sounds did you experience? Capture that moment on paper and recall that feeling. Then, when it’s time to create something, read your own words to reclaim a sense of being to motivate you to complete a task at hand.

(Author: Sam Davidson)

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