Peak Experiences are LOP

The following is a peak experience excerpt from the book LOP.

"I completed my official duties at the Law Courts Building (my placement as a college student), said the last of my Merry Christmas wishes, and headed out the building.  It was 5:00 PM and being north of the 49th parallel, our world was already dark and the rest of the downtown folk were beginning their journeys home.  However, that night, instead of the usual rush during the "rush hour" there was more of a calm.  It was almost like the city, as a whole, was remembering the meaning of Christmas, and people were taking the time to appreciate.  Perhaps many of them had just come from their Christmas work party or had just shared a genuinely warm Christmas wish with a coworker.  Or, perhaps it was the weather that evening. The city was covered with a white blanket of snow that felt more snugly than a gathering of ice crystals.  The air was warm and gentle with just a slight breath of wind that would occasionally brush past my hair and play with the odd flake of snow flickering to the ground.  Whatever this gentle feeling was, I could feel the 'Peace On Earth' that is so often described in our prose celebrating this time of year.

As I made my way to the bus stop, I slowed to a rhythmic, meditative walk -- the reality of my freedom (I was on a Christmas break) was settling in.  I could feel the appreciation for where I was in my life.  My accomplishments seemed to be unveiling themselves to me.  It was like I hadn't seen them before this because I had been too busy creating them.  I got to the bus stop a few minutes early and looked out at what surrounded me.  Churchill Square, our city centre park, stretched out before me with its trees and monuments and benches for people to relax.  In the wintertime a skating rink was created and music piped in  for that small community feeling.  And at this time of year each tree had been decorated with a million little, white lights that sparkled at me as I looked up at them.  At that moment, as I basked in the beauty of the park, a wave of knowing flooded through me that would have been frightening if it hadn't been such a peaceful, loving sensation.  For that instant, I truly knew all was well, and not just for myself, but for the whole world.  I could feel the vastness and the intimacy as one, and if I had any doubts to that point about there being a God, they were dismissed with this wave. 

Within seconds I arrived at a level of appreciation never before experienced and yet it felt like I had always existed there.  Then my logical brain kicked in and warned me that I better come back to "reality" or I was going to miss my bus.  With a flash I was back in my body, with my feelings, my worries, my 'to do' list, and with the gift of remembering and touching that mythical place that I wanted to call Home."