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."

Let Him Run

Posted to FaceBook Mar. 12.
I recently re-watched "Secretariat", the movie about the horse who won the triple crown in 1973.  Spoiler alert:  If you haven't seen the film and you would like to watch it as a surprise, you might not want to read this.

After winning two of the three Triple Crown races, the owner and trainer started preparing for the final and longest of the three races, the Belmont, and pondered their strategy.  Should they do what all others usually did and let their horse rest, or should they trust their instincts and train Secretariat hard so that he would be prepared for the long distance and be able to win against his closest competitor, who was a long distance runner. 

Training hard was not the conventional wisdom because with that came the risk of hurting or ruining a horse.  Most would hold their horse back in fear that something might go wrong.  However, they decided to train him hard and trust their instincts, and believe that Secretariat would know what he wants to do.

Race day comes.  Secretariat and his closest competitor dominate the race.  They are neck and neck most of the way.  The owner yells out, "Let him run!"  The jockey stops holding him back and lets him go, lets him be all that he is, and he wins the Belmont by 31 lengths.

I believe we are all Secretariats.  And when we stop holding ourselves back, and let ourselves run, we all win our Triple Crown.