Spiritual Experience at the Movies

Could watching a movie about food be a spiritual experience? I think so...

Today, I went to see Julie and Julia, the new movie that combines the true experiences of Julie Powell (fellow blogger) and the well-known French Chef, Julia Child. I could hardly wait to see this movie. I was fully expecting to enjoy this one because my daughter, Amara, so highly recommended it during my recent visit with her in Seattle. (See her review on Skewed and Reviewed.)

It's not an exaggeration to say that I loved the movie, loved seeing France again, and loved the passion that both Julie and Julia developed for their cooking. They made me want to be better at the things I do.

But I wasn't expecting my heart to be touched so intimately by the music or the portrayal of loving husbands or the opening of a package with the first book inside. Watching those things on screen was like reliving pieces of my own life. The song Time After Time brought back special memories with my late husband as did the words and actions of encouragement by the husbands in the movie story. Then too, the grand celebration of receiving the first printed copy of the book were very, very familiar!

But I'm not sharing these things just to reminisce. This movie readily shows reminders of what I call Reaching Beyond. Reaching for something more important than the everyday. Reaching for the possibilities of becoming more than what a person currently envisions... Reaching on even when discouragements come... Reaching on beyond doubts... Continually Reaching for the kinds of love and passion to build a life that goes beyond existing boundaries and becomes very special indeed!

I left the movie with tears streaming down my face. The tears showed up in the scene where the grand finale of that wonderful music started playing... They were tears of joy and a kind of spiritual connection! To see this movie was, for me, like getting a hand-delivered message which said, "Keep at what you love. It will be worth it. In time, if you perservere, you will have even greater dreams come true."

Thanks Julie and Julia... I think I'll have an encore viewing quite soon!

Welcome to Inspirations!

Each and every day we make choices about how to approach dilemmas and make decisions, about what to pay attention to and what to set aside. Choices and change go together... There is no shortage of either one in modern life!!!

Change, while uncomfortable, is simply a given. The style of our choice-making isn't. Our choices shape a positive or negative outlook on life and move us on some path. Amazingly, we can choose to look for things that inspire us and move us in a great direction!!!

For instance, we can see this day as full of vibrant possibilities (like the flowers side of the path shown) or we can focus on the mundaneness and same-old, same-old routine (like the weeds side of this path.) How we focus our attention is important... Albert Einstein is credited as saying, "There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle."

Don't know about you, but given that kind of choice, I want to live a miracles-type life! I will choose to watch for inspirations to keep me motivated, vibrant, and fully alive. I will choose to move forward and grow and develop newness for as long as my feet touch this great earth!

Chris Gardner, the man whose inspiring story is told in the movie The Pursuit of Happyness, writes, "The lesson that you can take what you've got- no matter how minuscule it may seem to be- and use your innate powers of ingenuity, together with hard work and focus, and make something meaningful of yourself and your life... speaks to the power of creating miracles that's given to each of us." (p. 37)

This blog is all about choices of daily life and sources of inspiration so that you can use what you have and what comes your way to create new possibilities- sometimes miraculous possibilities. My hope is that the topics found here will be meaningful to you and that you'll also be willing to share your own stories. Welcome readers!