Inspiration

There are moments that bring you out of contemplation of the past or future to the present - urgently, violently, beautifully.

When it happens, it is as if one is waking from a dream, and brought into a reality filled with deeper colors and sounds of exquisite complexity.

In my life, there have been perhaps three times this has happened. Each time, it was due to a particularly special someone.

Though the conversation or relationship be brief or limited, the moment of realization endures , even though time may do its best to rob us of the specifics of the memory.

I have had such an experience just now. It is the emotional/spiritual equivalent of being struck by lightning without a cloud in the sky. Unexpected, unhoped for, and uncertain about its impact or longevity, it may defy articulation.

But the fact remains - I know when I've been hit with a damn bolt. And I am grateful for it, even if I never see nor hear from the person again. For the experience has forced me to become more interesting, more present, more alive.

I do not feel like I can do anything. But I do feel like I can do everything I need to do in my life. And that is an amazing feeling indeed.

More passionate about sending out my own bolts of lightning, to enrich the lives of my family, my friends, my world.

May I never doubt the power of distant strangers again.