Peaceful Warrior

Tonight I saw the Peaceful Warrior...for the second time. I also went to see it on Sunday night. I was in the mood to see a movie on Sunday and needed a break from all the editing I've been doing.

My words will not do justice if I try to describe this movie. Let me just say I felt like I was in a meditative trance when I got out of seeing it. I sort of floated along down the street to the quesadilla stand to get some dinner. There I watched everyone and even ran into another wedding photographer I know and hadn't seen in a long time. After leaving the stand and walking into the farmacia, I ran into one of my former students from the restaurant. And while checking out, I saw a local musician who I had photographed as one of my first jobs here. It was all pretty surreal.

What I focused on after the first viewing was that "there are no ordinary moments". This has stayed with me and makes me really try to be in the moment as much as possible. I thought about it today as I watched a dance performance.

So tonight when I was walking toward home, I realized I was only a couple of blocks from the cinema and it was only a couple of minutes away from the last showing of the movie for the day. So I went again.

This time I am focused on how we have no control over our lives. This becomes clearer to me every day. And because we have no control, all we can really do is enjoy the journey. We don't even really know what the destination will be...ever. We can have goals but since we never really know what will occur and since we can't control what will occur, we can only enjoy the process and path.

You've heard this before. Neither I, nor the movie, am saying anything new. It's just truly understanding this in the core of our being that is a challenge.

So put it on the top of your Netflix list and watch it!