1.14.2008

Positive Moment

I was studying this evening, but in that meditative state (between sleeping and wakefulness), I had a couple "Aha" moments. It may have had something to do with the TV show I had watched while eating dinner. A couple friends of mine affectionately call it, "Zen Cop."
The first moment I had, well, actually, let's start with the second:
I don't know about you, but I sometimes feel constrained by labels. Through much of my life, I've avoided labelling. It's a box that people want to put you in to keep things neat and tidy. However, I have experienced, to my great surprise, a situation when I was irritated by the lack of definition and therefore the lack of labelling/categorization. The lack of information made me feel a bit powerless. So, I realized, in thinking on Aha number 1, that in describing the situation, I could say that Aha number 2 was that there is a time and a place for everything, including labelling.
The real Aha, however, was in reflecting on the above described (sort of) situation, I had a sudden realization. I don't know if I suddenly saw what was there all along, or if something in me reached the point where the truth changed (in many mental situations, perception IS reality, from a certain point of view). The situation where I had been struggling in a fog of unlabelledness, which I had been perceiving as negative -- all of a sudden was completely positive. I was free because I had never been pinned down in the first place. That very lack of definition was singular, and therefore unique, special, and powerful. It was beyond mere "looking at the bright side."
It was a very strange moment, and it's still with me. I expect it to fade, but I'm enjoying it while it lasts. I hope to be able to remember how to do it again. How would one recreate the moment? I don't know. Perhaps by taking a situation or circumstance and playing what if --
What if this circumstance is not negative, but supremely positive? What if what is false is true and what is true is false? What if the world were turned upside down?

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's very cool that you took the time to write it down! All too often I have those epiphanies and then forget everything except that I had one.

MWT said...

*notes the tag "cryptic posts"*

What've I started...

Cool post though. I have lots to say about labels myself, but if I ever do, it'll be in a very cryptic way. :)

Janiece said...

I have no idea what you're talking about, but I've decided to run with the moment and say "yay, Anne!"

Here's to cryptic posts!

Stacey said...

I'm glad you turned a negative into a positive - I agree with Janiece -yay Anne. If the situation is what I think it is, it sounds like you are finally ready to let all of that go and clean house as it were with the situation.

Unknown said...

What you are describing is a "reframing" of something. Psychology gobledegook thinks it is only happening in the way one "thinks" of something. I postulate that there is an actual energy reframing. Things flow differently energetically speaking and one "feels funny" because how you function as an energy being is different than what you are used to.
Sorry, I am struggling with terminology here. But I did not find your post cryptic at all. It was very clear.

Anne C. said...

Heh. You're not entirely to blame for the "cryptic post" tag, MWT. My friend bel made a comment once about my cryptic posts, which made me laugh. When I was writing this one, I had to label it as such.
I sometimes find it important to be able to describe something I'm experiencing without getting into needless detail. Besides, although the discussion (or thought) usually arises out of a particular situation, the lessons learned can be applied to many other situations.
Stacey - It's funny that you mention cleaning house. My recent talk with Ruth ran across the same or similar phrasing. I feel like I'm getting rid of mental baggage I've had for, well it seems like forever.

Anne C. said...

Oh, and brenda013, that's exactly what I was thinking, but I lacked the psychobabble to describe it. :)

MWT said...

I sometimes find it important to be able to describe something I'm experiencing without getting into needless detail. Besides, although the discussion (or thought) usually arises out of a particular situation, the lessons learned can be applied to many other situations.

That's pretty much exactly what I'm aiming for with my cryptic posts too. Mine tend to be cathartic in some way, but I abstract them so that other people might also see something useful for themselves. (And also so it doesn't turn into angsty emo dreck, which I'm unfortunately very good at writing, and where I don't want Siram to descend.)

Even so, now I'm all curious what specifics brought on this post. ;)

Anne C. said...

MWT, that's exactly why I do it too.