Strange Moments of Clarity

Have you ever found yourself in one of those situations where you suddenly had a few extra moments on hand — perhaps you were waiting for a train, or sitting at an airport, or just staring at your computer screen between appointments — and suddenly all the noise of the busy-ness in your life dropped away and was replaced by a strange sort of clarity?

I've always treasured those moments because they tend to bring great ideas that I wouldn't normally come up with while under the typical time pressures of daily life.

At the same time, I have also found them to be a little strange because they never seem to occur "on demand" when you really need them; they only pop up when you least expect it.

From time to time, I may have mentioned here that some of my best writing ideas tend to come up while I'm cooking breakfast, or peeling potatoes, or even mowing the lawn. At those times, my mind is far removed from the idea of actually focusing on anything useful and productive... and suddenly a moment of clarity arrives.

During such moments — particularly when they're happening while I'm out in nature somewhere, even if it's just a parking lot overlooking a green belt — I also seem to really see what is in front of me in much greater detail than I normally do, perhaps because my mind is not moving as fast, and is not as filled with various to-do lists that must be finished by a certain deadline.

Not so long ago, I ended up with an extra 15 minutes between finishing my shopping at the supermarket and a doctor's appointment. Rather than go directly to the doctor's and sit in the waiting room for an extra 15 minutes, I parked in the parking lot of a small park across from the medical building.

I sat there and watched the sun dappling off the leaves of a tree, while tiny insects flew in interesting patterns straight up and down from the grass... making me wonder if their sole purpose in life was to pick a single spot and fly straight up for two seconds and then straight down for two seconds and then straight back up for all of their lives.

I looked around and had a deeper appreciation for how everything is struggling for life, including a cluster of blooming dandelions that had somehow started growing out of a crack in the asphalt of the parking lot.

Everywhere around us things want to be alive!

I noticed somebody walking their dog, clearly trying to multitask as they were looking both at their phone and at the same time also listening to something through headphones. Made me wonder whether that person ever stopped for long enough to really take in everything around them.

Sometimes I end up drifting within, going over the details of past events and occasionally actually remembering things I don't think I was remembering or aware of at the time they were happening.

Strange, how that is even possible…

Time also seems to fade away during these moments of clarity. It felt like I had only been drifting away for three minutes when I realized it had been almost 20 and I made my way rather hurriedly to the doctor's office.

It doesn't happen often... but — as I said — I am always grateful when it does!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great Friday!

How about YOU? Have you ever experienced unexpected moments of clarity when you weren't expecting them? Leave a comment if you feel so inclined — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

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Created at 2025.11.13 00:12 PST
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