Wednesday, November 18, 2009

A Moment of Being


Virginia Woolf uses the phrase "moment of being" to describe completely transcendent moments of clarity.  Her characters usually experience these moments of ecstasy, sadly enough, just before some tragic event or realization.  BUT these "moments of being" intrigue me so much.  They are beautiful snippets of life when every single piece falls into place.  You are "in the now" as my Mom likes to say or "at one" or whatever it is you personally believe, but these moments are so real.  They make up for every other moment of every other day, no matter what the mundane world is like.  These moments of intense beauty show me that the world is, to its core, a wonderful place.  Whenever I read a scene in a Woolf novel where these "moments of being" are born I feel ecstatic to the core because I love knowing that someone else, even if it is a fictional character, even if I do have to channel dead Virginia Woolf...someone else understands that these moments happen.



My most intense "moment of being" was in the Cascade Mountain Range in Washington State.  I was laying on a dock at Ross Lake (pictured above) with two friends.  The conversation had died away and my entire world was wilderness.  We dangled our feet into the icy water and in that moment I saw all of the changes I would make to my life when I got back to the front-country.  I saw the sheer potential of life in general and I promised myself then and there to stop wasting this gorgeous life.  To go along with this mental revelation was a physical sensation of lightness.  I felt wonderfully powerful, healthy to the core, beautiful, transformed in every aspect.  

So I came back to Charleston and did exactly what I promised myself I would.  Ask anyone who knows me, I was not the same after that.  

So my wish for you today is that you find yourself in a frame of mind (unfortunately it can't be forced, it's a completely organic experience) where you can have a "moment of being".  Virginia Woolf wrote about them enough to coin a term for them, so I'm sure she had at least one.  I had one this summer.  Now its your turn.  

(or if you have had one, I would love to hear about it...leave a comment!!)

Go Outside y'all,
Chelsea
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2 comments:

  1. UnknownNovember 19, 2009 at 2:53 PM

    First, I love this scribble. Also, I think that almost everyone we hiked with this summer had at least one of these moments of perfect clarity and beingness. It is amazing what a person can discover about themselves when all of the social craziness is striped away.
    I had several of these moment over the past year. Most of these took place on our hike. It was the first time in my life that I was without family. That gave me the opportunity to see myself very clearly, and I realized that my life was going in a direction that wasn't me. I too came home a different person, and I am now very comfortable in my own skin. I feel a little bit bad for my husband, because I was no longer going to continue down the road of crazy. I just wanted to stay in that wonderful place of mental clarity, lightness and capability. Sense then, my life has continued in a positive direction. I am really grateful that I was able to NOLs it up with you. There were definitely some times when I was a less than desirable person to be around. Oh yeah I still get out hiking a few times a month.
    Thanks for the post, and please excuse spelling and grammar issues.
    Abby

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  2. ChelseaNovember 23, 2009 at 1:13 PM

    Thanks for sharing with me!!! I'm so glad to hear you've got you all figured out now too. (Your hubby will survive I'm sure) I'm really looking forward to our next trip as well, just because I'm curious about what it has to offer. Is there a next step above this?? Hmmmm.

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