Epic Moments and Peacful Warriors

       When I started writing this, I had several thoughts in my head that I wanted to write about. I had a notion of explaining my most epic, or perfect moment. I sat down and that notion hit rock bottom. Truth is I don't have one. Or at least when I think about it I can't pick one out from my past.  I can imagine what one would be like for me, but its never happened it probably never will. The point is I can imagine it.  I can see myself, or the version of myself I'd like to be, sitting on a roof top, comfortable looking out over the other rooftops of a nameless city.  I am warm in the light of the rising sun. A new day is about to begin and it is the perfect ending to the day before. My arms are wrapped around my knees and I waiting for something. Multiple somethings.  I am waiting for the bells to chime on the chapel near by, and waiting for someone to sit down next to me. The epic quality of this moment increases when I feel the presence of someone else, I haven't decided if it's a he or a she yet so let's just call them Someone.  This someone makes me feel safe and I feel like anything is possible when they lean their shoulder against mine. This person and I haven't had sex, we want to, but the promise of something special in our shared future keeps us from going for it. The moments like this are too good to give up. Passion comes in all forms, not just in sex and we know this and we accept it. Its like a secret for us, we hold on to the future possibility of intimate moments, waiting for the next epic to begin. We want it to be the most epic moment, not this moment,  we want one specifically epic because its ours. After all our lives together are and will always be a string of epic moments.

     When I started considering this idea in more detail a story came to mind, one of great importance in my life. Funny thing it isn't my story. It's  the story of Dan Millman. He wrote a book called The Way of The Peaceful Warrior, it was turned into a movie. I can remember going on a whim with my mother to see it and walking out of the theater feeling like I'd be changed forever. So many moments in that movie are worthy of repeating in quotation marks for you, but I don't know if they hold the same weight when I say them.  Dan was a hot shot gymnast in school one day and after an unfortunate accident when everything seemed lost he found a new way.  For the longest time I wanted to find that way, I even purchased a guide book. It makes sense that I would want to be that way, it makes sense that anyone would want to follow in the footsteps of Socrates in the story. He is a god in my eyes, and I can't help but picture him looking exactly like Nick Nolte. One of my favorite quotes from the movie is "There is No Starting or Stopping Only Doing."  and I agree, you can't stop the world and you don't really start anything. You do it.  You breathe, you walk, you talk, you think, you do work. It's all a string of doing. Another good one is "Life is Choice, you can chose to be a victim or anything else you'd like to be." It is a harder bit of information for me to swallow but I agree. I've been fighting depression for a few years now and I actively choose not to let it run or ruin my life.  I fight against it.

The one quote that I think is the reason I thought about this story now is " There are no ordinary moments" I may not think those moments in my past were as epic as they seemed but there really are no ordinary moments.

Here is a trailer clip

I can't think of how to explain the rest of them so here's the quotes... You really need to watch the movie and read the book. 

"Throw out everything you don't need...that's keeping you from this moment."

"Everything has a purpose, even this, and it's up to you to find it."

"A Warrior does not give up what he loves, he finds the love in what he does."

"The journey is what brings us happiness not the destination "

"The ones who are hardest to love are usually the ones who need it the most. "

"A warrior is not about perfection or victory or invulnerability. He's about absolute vulnerability. "

"The Mind is just a reflex organ, it reacts to everything."

"I want you to stop gathering information from the outside and start gathering it from the inside. "

"I call myself a peaceful warrior because the battles we fight are on the inside."

"People are not theirs thoughts, they think they are, and it brings them all kinds of sadness. "

"Death isn't sad. The sad thing is: most people don't live at all. "

"Sometimes you have to lose your mind before you come to your senses."

"This moment is the only thing that matters."

"Are you paying attention?"