Why you need “Holy Shit Moments” and Where to find them.

It’s Monday morning. My daughter just left for school, and my wife to work. I’m sitting in my, 1-bedroom apartment, about to start my job search, when all of the sudden…
“Holy Shit, I am living in Stockholm!”
I felt a jolt of energy rush in. “How did I end up here? How did I get so lucky?”
In that moment, I had everything I had hoped for. Moving to Stockholm has been a dream of mine for many years. A lot of sacrifices were made to get here and I was finally here. All of this came flooding into the present moment.
I was experiencing a Holy Shit Moment.
I was no stranger to these experiences. These moments of “enlightenment” have happened before:
“Holy Shit! I’m 17, living in France, smoking my first joint with my host brother. My home and family are back in Toronto and I’m here speaking French and living life on my terms.”
“Holy Shit! I just graduated high-school and my parents are moving to Spain. I am moving with them and fulfilling my dream of permanently residing in Europe.”
“Holy Shit! I graduated from Law. I’m engaged to the woman of my dreams and I’m boarding a flight to Brussels to start my first internship.”
“Holy Shit! I quit my quit my 6 figure corporate job and decided to move to Andalucia. We loaded everything we owned on our 1982 VW Camper Van and we’re driving along the French countryside.”
“Holy Shit! I’m in a hospital waiting room in Malaga, Spain. I’m listening to doctors tell me that I just became a father!”
Anatomy of Holy Shit Moments
Looking back at these HSMs I started to spot some commonalities.
They are experienced in real time, in the present moment and they are temporal. Although the recent past comes into the picture, the details and current surroundings are more vivid and overpowering. You feel that you are present in the moment and that you are aware of how special this moment is in your life’s story. Let’s not forget that these are “Moments” and by definition they are temporary.
They are rooted in a deep sense of awareness. You become hyperaware and all your senses seem to come into play. Colours, tastes, sounds and smells are all present.
Regardless of what is going on around, you feel serenity and PEACE. It is as if time slowed down, the sound toned down and chimes start ringing.
There is an element of gratitude. In all these HSMs I feel humbled by the experience. You feel grateful for being given this experience that you know will have a positive impact on your life. You will have the urge to thank someone, and most of the time you will thank “the universe” or “the powers that be”.
You feel (positively) energised. The awareness, serenity and gratitude lifts your spirits and eradicates all sense of fatigue. It translates into a TRUST in future circumstances, that everything is going to be ok. It is a sort of temporary optimism. You know in that moment that whatever twists and turns life will go, it will be tolerable and you will triumph.
They are also NOT perfect, and that’s ok. The hyperawareness also makes you aware that things are not perfect and that there are still many things going wrong with you. You accept these as part of it all and you are able to be indifferent in the face of adversity.
How to get more HSMs in your life
Awareness is key. Yes, the type of awareness that involves asking important questions like, “What is important in my life?” , “What is the meaning of this?”, “Am I happy?” and even “What is the meaning of life?”.
By having these questions in the back of your mind, you will be primed for identifying and recognising HSMs when they appear.
I also found that mindfulness practice (Yes I mean daily meditation) and even practicing daily gratitude helps. In fact, after starting my mindfulness practice I have been able to experience Holy Shit Moments more frequently.
Conclusion
At the risk of sounding redundant, I need to stress that I am describing “Moments”. These are, by definition, temporary and will pass you by. It is important therefore to be able to identify them as they are happening. It is only by experiencing them consciously that you will be able to recall them vividly.
It is the conscious awareness of the moment that make Holy Shit Moments fundamentally different from “Happy Memories” or “anecdotes”.
Once experienced, you will be able to recall them vividly. And if you really put your mind to it, you will be able to close your eyes and re-live the moment in your mind (feeling and sensations included).