Question of the Day

[ayoub]

What experience or epiphany has had the most profound effect on your life?

Comments

[evergladesqueen.livejournal.com]

when i miscarried and saw my lil boy
although he had been alive w/in me for
15wks, he was a lil person! changed me
forever, but will not go in depth here!
*hugs*

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

Thank you for sharing...

[fox-bard.livejournal.com]

Like yesterday's question, I can't answer that in a public forum. But I figure you are one of the few that can guess on both counts.

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

Aye... :)

[garyg.livejournal.com]

the experience that had the most profound effect on my life was holding one of our pet rats when it died. that was the closest i've been to the actual moment that a life stopped.

the epiphany that has had the most profound effect is that in all conflicts someone must choose to be the peace maker.

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

A very powerful epiphany, my friend....

And a powerful experience too...

How do you feel they changed you?

[mighty-rontor.livejournal.com]

Learning about religious hypocrisy at the same time discovering non-western/non-traditional forms of mysticism and philosophy between 1984 and 1988. Up until then I was a good, unquestioning Catholic. The year 1984 changed how I saw life. The nail in Catholicism for me was the doctrine "Extra ecclesiam nulla salus" --outside the Church there is no salvation. I refused to believe that good people wouldn't go to heaven just because they weren't Catholic. I call bullshit. Furthermore, there wasn't just one lie, so for me, it unraveled itself. At first, I was angry to have been lied to. Now, I'm happy to be divorced from the faith as it has allowed me to enrich my self in ways that no priest would ever approve of. The result is that I've made good, diverse friends and learned more than I dreamed I would.

I just realized that the time between '84 and '88 put me on a path that Siddhartha suggested. "Embrace nothing: If you meet the Buddha, kill the Buddha. If you meet your father, kill your father. Only live your life as it is, Not bound to anything." Funny ol' world.

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

There is a similar thing in Islam... and that entire idea makes me want to hit someone... Usually the Mullah spewing it out...

[kabandra.livejournal.com]

I have had many if not small epiphanies. Normally they are pretty small ones having to do with guys, where I actually realize myself, internally believe (versus simply knowing) that I'm "better than that" or "deserve better"... I've had one or two of those lately concerning G.

The latest one was the "smile" one from a conversation with my friend. I can feel myself smiling more inside and out :)

Good question!

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

:D

[stardances.livejournal.com]

A very traumatic event which ended in me ending my marriage, testifying against my x husband and seeing a psychologist. From the ashes rises the phoenix ...everything does pass eventually.

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

Yes, everything does...

Dysfunctional at it's finest

[cmerun12.livejournal.com]

My brother (who is 11 years younger than me) had a biking accident and it really chewed up his face. (It happened somewhere in the early 1990s) My dad, being the smartass - and had a few too many beers - that he is, told me that he'd done it (the face mangling) to my brother because he wouldn't listen to him.

At this time, I'd moved out of the house and was living in my own apartment, etc etc...

Enraged, I confronted my dad. Toe to toe, and deadly calm I explained that if he EVER touched my brother again, I'd see him rotting in hell. I wouldn't waste time with calling the cops and Mom should just call the coroner.

By then, my mother and my brother were trying to separate us. I wasn't moving. And I sure as hell wasn't going to flinch or back down. You don't fuck with me and mine.

I could vaguely hear my mom and my brother trying to tell me it was an accident and how it all happened. But I was too focused on my father. The room got really quiet all of the sudden. Then I saw a flicker of something in my dad's eyes. I'm not sure if it was fear, respect, or what... all I know is something changed in the dynamics of our relationship.

He took the first step back. He seemed a little surprised and asked if I'd really believe he'd do something like that to my brother. Without pausing to think about it, I'd replied, "Yes, I do. Given what kind of parent you are, I know you're capable of it." I watched my dad take a couple more steps back, his shoulders slumping a little.

I can still see the look on his face when he turned away from me and sat down.

It's been over 10 years since this happend, and he's only mentioned it to me one time. He'd asked me, again, if I thought he would do something like that to one of his kids... My answer still hasn't changed.

Re: Dysfunctional at it's finest

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

Re: Dysfunctional at it's finest

[mighty-rontor.livejournal.com]

Sounds like the tempering of steel in that it was harsh, but made things better in the end. Sorry you had to go through that.

[photodiva02.livejournal.com]

I think the birth of Hailey had the most effect on my life.

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

:D

[lilgeorgiawhore.livejournal.com]

It's taken me a while to come up with an answer, but I'm going with the first time I ever had sex. I was 21, it was on a first date (in the back of a car, nonetheless. How cliched!) and I'd only known him a week. Up until that point, I had never had a man attracted to me and had convinced myself that I never WOULD find a man attracted to me and I was so worried that this would be the only time this would ever happen that I went ahead and did it. And while the guy turned out to be an asshole after (though these days we get along), the idea that there are men out there who could find me beautiful and sexy elevated my self-worth and, as I soon learned, self-confidence is a HUGE turn-on for guys, no matter what you look like. Yes, I still got myself into negative relationships, still fixated on the idea that if I left them I would never find another relationship, but with a lot of hard work and friends who cared about me and tried to get me out of those relationships, I was able to break that pattern and will not stay with a guy if I'm not given the love and respect I deserve and it's also given me the confidence to approach men I find attractive (Dan and I met online, I contacted him first). So while my "losing my virginity" story isn't the romantic one most women aim for, I know that if it hadn't happened that way, I wouldn't be the cool confident woman I am now, and I most definitely wouldn't have the love of the wonderful man in my life.

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

Thank you for sharing this with me :D

[kalquessa.livejournal.com]

So far my most life-changing epiphany is: "Not everything is about me. In fact, very few things, on a grand scale, are even remotely related to me, much less actually about me. And...that's actually a really good thing, and I should be happy about it and move on with life."

My husband sums this up with the phrase "Life is not a play starring you."

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

Your husband is a smart guy :)

[torisrabbit.livejournal.com]

no matter what...it was not my fault.
tori whispering her music into my ear with words of freedom changed my life forever...or else i would be either dead, hiv postitive, or a junkie.

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

:D

[huggscancer.livejournal.com]

not getting into the nursing program
social work not working out
dad and grandpa geting sick

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

What about positive experiences / epiphanies?

[shadowshape.livejournal.com]

more than one;
last May; standing in a waiting room, listening to my daughter screaming while they opened her chest to re-inflate her lungs
earlier; standing on my favourite hillside, and knowing that I am one with the world
love and blessed be
xxx

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

Powerful...

[venusflesh.livejournal.com]

I don't know if I can exactly pinpoint the ONE, but one that is definitely a major one is my "coming out" and being comfortable with my sexuality. I was so repressed for all of my adolescence... I was so ashamed of my experimentation with my female best friend, for instance. When I finally matured and realized sex is not something to be ashamed of, and when I realized and accepted that I was attracted to women and could be with them sexually, it was a huge impact in my life. I was so much happier... all the anger I had seemed to just melt away. It was amazing.

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

That's a wonderful thing to happen :)