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Have you ever had one of those moments when something important in your life ''dawned'' on you and caused a change in your life??
Good , bad or amazing.....Anyone?

2007-08-23 10:51:58 · 13 answers · asked by Wood Smoke ~ Free2Bme! 6 in Arts & Humanities Philosophy

Yes! I have had several...sometimes it has been shocking and heartbreaking, but in the past few years I have found that flashes of Truth although they sometimes hurt, can give me the drive and desire to seek changes for the better.
I used to be so afraid and stubborn regarding change, again- age brings more wisdom and I have learned that without change there is stagnation - and that is never pretty!

2007-08-24 10:28:39 · update #1

13 answers

One such moment was remarkable, though it doesn't sound like much upon review.

When I was a 10 year old boy, my father moved our house--which had stood between a red clay hill and a rather nasty, muddy creek crossing a barren alkali-whited pasture-- to another, more productive farm where he began for the first time in his life to make a halfway decent living farming. He kept the old farm in his operation, but it was too remote and the roads to town were too bad for us to keep living there.

Well, the move bothered me a little-- more than a little, now that I think of it-- especially since I recently had lost two important companions, our big old dog and our skinny old mare. Nellie, a retired cattle horse, used to nuzzle me and lick me when I went out to play in the lot where she lived. Nellie treated me like I was one of her own grandkids!

But there was no Nellie, no horse lot or barn on the new farm. There was no place to play except the river, about half a mile away. Besides that, we no longer had a dog, not even a cat! The cat used to come and snuggle up in my bed and sleep with me, sometimes annoyingly keeping me awake with its loud purring. The cat chose to stay at home in the old rotting barn when we moved. Disloyalty and poor judgment such as I never had encountered before in my life!

And the house was now setting on flat, rich and productive wheat land without trees, without hills, without a creek, without old rotting buildings, without a secret spreading elm tree and a "desert" (a flat oval of sand the size of a house lot surrounded by a sunflower jungle, where I could play alone traveling from desert to jungle like Tarzan!)

The new farm didn't have any of the secret places I had given special names to since before going to school, but Dad didn't have to struggle so hard to make a living on his expanded farming and ranching operation, and, previously without electricity or plumbing for a long time, we were able to buy a television and, for the first time, a flush toilet. Mama had a kitchen sink instead of a bucket of hand-drawn well water on the kitchen counter.

They had even spoken of buying us a Shetland pony to replace old Nellie, so I should have been, as they began to say a few years later, "in orbit". Grateful, appreciative. But what disappointed 10-year-old ever is? Like any child or adult, I took the good parts of the move for granted while resenting the loss of what was well-loved and familiar.

But one day after we moved, Dad took me for a ride. He stopped his pickup on the hill overlooking the old homestead lot where our house used to be, just to light a cigarette. (It was not that far from where we now lived-- and smoking was socially acceptable in those days!)

But, seeing his tobacco burning and the smoke rising in the pickup cab, I was suddenly struck with an odd sense of wonder at all the changes always going on right before our eyes. And, seeing the empty place where the house had been, I realized that, for all the changes, we still lived in the same house and our life was continuing much as before.

But, like the rising smoke from Dad's cigarette, we also, were all slowly but visibly changing! We were changing like the spring breeze blowing though the new leaves on the old cottonwood tree in our old front yard. We were changing like the tree as it bent in the wind, and even the things that seemed "permanent" about us-- our ideas, our thoughts, our very bodies-- also were changing, and the changes were going on every moment.

I even suddenly realized that my life was going to be changed dramatically by the very thoughts going through my head at that moment-- and, even in old age, the awareness of change and the need to make the changes as positive as possible greatly influences my thinking.

It suddenly had became clear as a bell to me that you can't go back and pick up the past, because all of the past's parts and pieces have been sucked up into the present, and those disassembled parts of the past are now joined into the new growth.

However dull and ordinary all this might sound to you now, at age 10 or 11 it was an amazing thing to realize, though it didn't come to me in so many words. There were no words at all, just a realization, as though I were suddenly looking an old friend in the face, really seeing his features clearly for the first time.


My Dad asked me why I looked so thoughtful, so I told him, as best I could, what I was thinking, mainly that I realized for the first time that change is unavoidable. Then he put out his cigarette, threw it out the window, and drove on past the farm. And he told me he was glad I realized some important things at so young an age, and he said to tell my mother so she'd stop worrying about me brooding around all day since we had moved.

Today awareness that dynamic change encompasses all reality and that change generally is a good thing no longer seems like an amazing insight. It's just the way things are.

2007-08-31 07:40:38 · answer #1 · answered by John (Thurb) McVey 4 · 2 0

Change is dynamic. For instance, if you look at an idea or a philosophical thought from one perspective it soon becomes stale and lifeless. Soon your asking yourself who gives a damn, but change your vector. Look at it from another viewpoint and it looks fresh and new. it takes on a new dynamic. The greatest scientific discoveries have come when all of the old questions had been answered and someone came along and asked a different question, or at least asked the old question in a different manner. Suddenly it takes on a whole new dynamic and there are a slew of new questions to deal with. Ladyhawk8141 got me thinking about jobs. The longest I have ever held a job was 10 years. I look back now and realize that it was about 5 years too long. I've held my present position for about 5 years now and am looking for another change. CHANGE IS DYNAMIC!

2007-08-30 16:49:37 · answer #2 · answered by JOE N 4 · 1 0

Yes. It dawned on me while reading a book a few years back that my thinking had been all wrong. I then learned that I was living in priestcraft:

"He commandeth that there shall be no priestcrafts; for, behold, priestcrafts are that men preach and set themselves up for a light unto the world, that they may get gain and praise of the world... "

As a result, my relationship with my husband changed dramatically--almost over night. I realized that I was the problem--not him, and not anyone else. When I turned my thoughts to the fact that only I could change myself, and that I could NOT change anyone else, it helped immensely.

It is by having a "broken heart and contrite spirit" that I have been able to become happier over time--realizing that by treating others as I would want to be treated in all situations, and by not judging or measuring others to "MY" standards, that not only I, but others could become happier too.

Books have really helped facilitate my "inspiration." These include: Bonds that Make us Free, The Book of Mormon, The Sealed Portion, and 666, Mark of America.

2007-08-27 17:35:18 · answer #3 · answered by smallone 4 · 1 2

Yes, several which changed my perspective and "approach" to life. I noticed that the incidents all shared the fact that i was in an "altered state" at the time, facilitated by meditation, or being in a high vibe situation --out in nature, at a sacred spot, or being with someone whose frequency was unusually high. Quite the treat :)))

2007-08-23 11:08:09 · answer #4 · answered by drakke1 6 · 1 0

Yes! When I told my boss to shove his crummy job . I was sick of his crap, and all the drama at work. But I hung in there for quite a while, and then one day I said, I'm better than this.
I walked out and never thought about again. I went and had business cards made , and have never looked back. I have been self employed and doing well for ten years.

2007-08-23 11:25:36 · answer #5 · answered by ladyhawk8141 5 · 2 0

Yes. I have had big moments & some smaller. The most recent one moved my whole perspective on how I viewed & dealt with an incident in my life suddenly. Thet are always amazing & wonderous & uplifting. Just one of these AH-HA moments & I am go to go for weeks.

2007-08-23 11:01:27 · answer #6 · answered by ? 5 · 2 0

I was 16. My mom had put me on restriction.... again. She was yelling at me about how messed up I was and I realized right then and there that she didn't have any power over me. I could do whatever the heck I wanted.

It was the beginning of a very rough road for both me and my family. I caused a lot of grief and heartache for myself and everyone who loved me. THAT was not a good revelation.

2007-08-30 19:39:39 · answer #7 · answered by Cologne 2 · 1 0

yes, at my mothers funeral, one of my cousins, in commenting on me and my 4 brothers , said "wow you are all really great people, but oh so different"
and the light flashed on, and i knew what he said was true, before that, i felt and i think they felt we were all distant, and really not close nor could relate to each other, i think we expected/wanted the others to be more like ourselves
it really changed how i view my family, for the good
ps: i am the girl, in the middle of brothers, of the 5 of us, we have 5 religions (each thinking our own is right), desire to live in 5 different types of areas, 5 ways of speaking, etc etc, you really wouldnt know we ever grew up together, lol

2007-08-23 11:01:20 · answer #8 · answered by dlin333 7 · 1 0

the day i gave birth to an angel... my daughter
it was the most beautiful moment in life.
And every time she smiles makes everything perfect. she is my world, the star that lights my way, she's my everything, she makes me a better person. she makes life worth living. she is my purpose in this life.

2007-08-28 15:32:44 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1 0

I have had DOZENS of ephiphanies over the past few years. I generally get my maturity because of my ephiphanies.

There have been so many that I can't even recall them!

They have all been amazing.

2007-08-23 12:09:47 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1 0

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