One of my favorite films is “Field of Dreams”. The W.P. Kinsella book the film is based off of, “Shoeless Joe”, is a good read. I re-visited it again recently. It is, however, one of the instances where the film surpasses the book. The film is magical and there are a couple key moments where the storytelling in the film took the story found in the book to the next level.
The film has more than a few moments that really stir the emotions within me. One of them is the scene with Moonlight Graham (Burt Lancaster) and Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) where Ray asks Moonlight what it was like to get so close to fulfilling his dream of being a true major league player – in the story Moonlight plays one inning in the field, does not get a chance to make a play or hit, the season ends and he subsequently retires – but not quite reach it. What follows is one of the those lines that transcends the story and applies to us all:
“You know, we just don’t recognize the most significant moments of our lives while they’re happening. Back then I thought, ‘Well, there will be other days.’ I didn’t realize that that was the only day.”
These “significant moments” go deeper than regret, which is a destructive and wasteful emotion. We might wish we made a different decision, tried harder, capitalized on the opportunity in a different way…none of those have any value to us in the present moment. None of it is true anyway. We acted in the way that made sense to us at the time under the circumstances with the information we had. We must forgive and move on.
The next level, the broader view, of this is where we really start to understand. What do we do when these significant moments occur:
Nothing.
We are so preoccupied with our lives, our scrolling, our conflicting emotions, our confusion, our ego running the show that we generally do nothing. Every moment is significant, a moment for peace, feeling love and extending love to others.
That is why it is so important to make time for yourself and stillness every day, early in the morning and before you go to sleep. It is through this you start to find that “space” where the truth is…beyond the incessant chatter of your mind leading you nowhere, in between the past which is gone and the future that does not exist, is you. You that knows exactly what to do, where to go and what to follow. Again, every moment is significant and when you put yourself in this space you are prepared to do everything as you are truly listening to what matters.
See yourself in Love, as I see you.
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