There have been times in my life that something would happen that seemed very ordinary. For example, I would casually meet a person, who seemed nice enough but after meeting this new person, I go on about my business. However, once in a while that casual encounter, that insignificant meeting, becomes what I have lovingly come to term a “Peak Moment.”
Peak moments are not easy to spot, for they are not accompanied by fireworks or rockets. Peak moments, actually, only become peak moments long after the actual period of the incident. Peak moments can only be spotted when looking back on our lives, never when looking forward, and seldom when in the present as they are happening. They are about relationships. It is about establishing a connection with someone that you would have never guessed you would have a relationship with at all, much less a special bond. For you see, peak moments do not happen in the head, nor even in the heart. Peak moments, for me, happen at the level of the soul.
This journey that we are on as human beings takes place on many distinct levels. Our jobs, for instance, usually take place on the thinking and doing level. Oh, we can really be committed to our careers, and can have some outstanding moments and all that. But it is mostly a cognitive perspective that we are required to use. A peak moment happens, or does not happen, less on a cognitive, conscious level, than on a spiritual, subconscious level.
Because it is not planned, nor are the people present even aware of the importance of what is happening, a peak moment really evolves naturally. These chance encounters take place in an almost off-handed way. They are the most casual of moments, which could so easily go unnoticed forever in the lives of the two individuals involved. And yet, even the most insignificant remark, or look, or gesture, can be the thing that starts a connection with another that will profoundly change the lives of the people forever.
My friend Leah and I experienced just such a moment. If anyone would have asked Leah or I what we thought of each other, we would not have included even casual friend as the remotest possibility. And yet, Leah and I fulfilled a purpose in each other’s lives at the exact place in time that we were meant to. We became special friends, friends that will be connected throughout our lives, regardless of time or space that could keep us apart. That connection began as a casual encounter that became our peak moment. We can both look back and identify the instant that our connection to each other began. We grew our friendship over time, but the moment of conception of that friendship was such a casual encounter, such a simple remark made, that it could have so easily not taken place.
For me, that’s the basis of my peak moments. It is when I look back on a special relationship and realize that the likelihood of the relationship with this person was incredibly small. And the moment of conception, so insignificant, that it would have been easy to miss it. And therefore, miss an incredible relationship. A peak moment for me is a simple gesture of human kindness, that in our busy lives, we often neglect to offer another. Something so small and seemingly unimportant, that the moment passes and, perhaps with it the connection of a lifetime.
The beginnings of friendship are not always clear and blatant. Some of the most important relationships I have started out as the tiniest of seeds. I would not even know a seed had been planted until much later as it grew to significant proportions. From the tiny acorn, grows a mighty oak. From a tiny moment of human contact, grows a lifetime connection of the spirit.
I’m convinced that I miss many peak moments, but I have been lucky; I have also experienced a few. I am aware that at any given time a peak moment may be happening. Unfortunately, or is it fortunately, I will not recognize it until long after I realize the results, until I feel that special connection with another. Without knowing which moments will make a significant difference in my life, I know I will need to remain open to all encounters I have with others and always offer that simple gesture of human kindness.
What are some of your peak moments?
Change, Grow, Evolve
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Senior Metamorphosis Moments 