Present
Science fiction author and distant relative of John Wilkes Booth John Scalzi wrote this on the Tor Books blog today:
I’ll let you into a little secret of mine, which is this: I’m the sort of dude that gets wrung out about emotional scenes in books and movies and TV. I date this tendency back to a specific event, which was the birth of my daughter. Before then, I could read or watch a scene of complete heartbreak and go “eh”; after her birth, I get choked up watching very special episodes of SpongeBob SquarePants. I hate it, man. Among the reasons I hate it is that when I go out in public to do a reading, there are entire books of mine that I can’t read aloud, because I can’t get through them without sobbing.
This totally resonates with me. I was as indifferent to everything as anyone could be before. Once you start learning about yourself and figuring out what things really mean to you, I think it’s easier to have a stronger connect with the things around you. It’s just a guess, but the numbness is gone now.
Instead, I feel like I’m actually present, an active participant in the here and now. In hindsight, it is truly unreal, especially considering I never bothered to even consider working towards this state before, but it makes all the difference now. And it is absolutely amazing.
Filed under: Meditations | 2 Comments
Tags: here and now, personal
Interesting. I saw a band last night, and midway through the set, the guitarist proposed to his girlfriend before a crowd of hundreds. It was an amazing moment, and I allowed myself to get caught up in the emotion. Your last two paragraphs here have triggered a lot of thoughts – cheers Shawn.