Tuesday, June 24, 2008

The Perfect Moment

I learned this from Spaulding Grey, an amazing actor, known for his role in The Killing Fields, but who truly shines in his monologue "Swimming to Cambodia" all about the insanity that was his experience going to work on the film.

During the monologue, Spaulding talks about "The Perfect Moment". He can't leave any country he travels to until he has a perfect moment. Its a moment when everything suddenly feels magical and right. He doesn't know if he will have his perfect moment right when he gets there, he may not have one for months. But he doesn't leave until he has one.

One of my favorite things to do is to acknowledge out loud when I have these perfect moments, because sometimes, you don't even realize you are having them until you look back on your day. But if you are really paying attention to what is going on in your day, you can find that it is littered with perfect moments of one sort or another. And sometimes, its pretty heady to realize that even when you're having money troubles, or relationship troubles, or whatever troubles, there are still these insanely bizarre moments when everything feels... right.

So now I try to share, out loud, when I have one, and its funny, because other people are doing this, as well, and its interesting to see when a bunch of us all simultaneously experience a perfect moment.

And then, at the end of your day, because you noticed you were having perfect moment, you have this beautiful collection of satisfying, fulfilling moments that you can flip through, like a picture book.

One of my new heroes who I just learned about, Stefano De Benedetti talks about the Perfect Moment in the movie Steep, and its incredible to hear.

"In the Perfect Moment, I was so concentrated there was no space fr other thoughts. When you want to make a turn, and you are at the top of a steep vertical wall, I mean, when you are in the situation that if you fall you die, everything changes. You think very much about turning. You think very much about WHERE to turn. And you do all this in a very special way.

You act like a different person.

You act with all your self.

You are making a completely different experience, and in some way, you are discovering yourself.

This is the magic of the mountain. You can except to die for this. You don't wanna to die. But to live so close to the possibility of dying, you understand what is really important, and what NOT.

And this makes you a better person. Its probably the highest moment of my life because in the perfect moment I was, or I felt to be, a little superman."

No comments: