A moment made just for me

Just me and my view

I travelled to Baltimore today for a Synagogue Presidents conference and happened to get to the conference center a few hours before registration started.  The conference center is based 40 minutes outside of Baltimore in beautiful farm country.  In these situations, I typically pull out my laptop and iPhone to get "caught up".  Fighting that urge, I found a comfy wooden rocking chair overlooking the farmland and just sat there.

No phone, no email, no people.  Just me and my view (see above).  A chirping bird flying overhead, the rustling of leaves in a nearby tree are pretty much the only sounds I hear.  Instead of trying to think of something specific, I am actually enjoying the tough task of thinking about nothing besides my moment.

Why don't I have these moments more often?  Or do I have them but don't take the time to appreciate them?  What gets me really thinking is did I create this moment or was this moment created just for me.  If I have to be honest, it was probably neither but wouldn't it be nice to Live As If these moments in our lives were made just for us?  To take it a step further, wouldn't it be nice if we went out of our way to create these moments for ourselves or even better, to create them for or with someone we love?

Of course my moment doesn't last long enough since my phone keeps buzzing in my pocket and people are starting to arrive.  Before I go on with my day, I at least wanted to share this moment with you.  Feel free to share in the comments below about the special quiet moments you have in your life.

If

Came across this poem by Rudyard Kipling written in 1895 and figured it would be a good poem for the "Live As If..." Blog.  Figured it was time to get the blog going again.

Enjoy,
Steven

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IF 

by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:.
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!