The Power of the Ordinary Moment

At the start of my sabbatical in Apr ‘23 I was just finishing reading a book called The Power of Moments which extolled the ‘extraordinary impact of certain moments’. The book served as a how-to guide for creating such so-called peak moments. Looking back, that’s probably how I envisioned my sabbatical to be - a thoughtfully choreographed string of peak moments. And then in a fateful instant I tore my ACL and had to throw the itinerary in the trash can. The surgery that followed was probably also a peak moment, but not the kind the book had in mind.

Cut to nearly four months later, and I’m in the middle of the rehabilitation to bring my knee back to full function. The journey towards normalcy has been physically quite painful, and at times, mentally draining, but there is a silver lining if you care to look for it. An injury of this nature, i.e. any that’s not permanently debilitating, can really make one rediscover the magic in perfectly ordinary moments. It was such a thrill to first drop the knees down to a ninety degree angle. And then every ten degrees of flexion from there on was a celebration each. Being able to climb the stairs, and then later climb down without support, the first bicycle ride, the first Vajrasana, the first skip; all champagne-worthy. They were all quite painful to be sure, but somehow the pain didn’t get committed to memory. Only the elation did.

I’m only human and I’m fairly sure I’ll go back to taking normalcy for granted and chasing peak experiences once again, but I do wish there was a way to keep alive this gratitude that I feel for being able to do the mundane things. Even if I can retain a small proportion of this appreciation the injury wouldn’t have been in vain.