Ding Moments
A series of coincidences led me to thinking about the concept of time. Just before Christmas, my divine Goddess and wife Alexandra asked me what I wanted as a gift. I really couldn’t think of anything because I sincerely believe that my life is fully abundant and short of $10 million dollars (I calculated that this would be the amount I needed in order to live comfortably off the interest and pursue a career as a writer and dilettante), there wasn’t any material object that I desired or needed. Alexandra insisted that I come up with something because her family really wanted to offer me something for Christmas.
I recalled that despite never having worn a watch in my entire life, I always wanted to do so and start a watch collection. That recollection brought to mind a watch that I fell in love with when I was 24 years old (34 years ago!) that one of my dear friends sported. It was the Movado “Museum Classic”. For some reason, Alexandra was not at all impressed with the idea despite my enthusiasm, but indulged me as we trekked all over New York City looking for this watch. The day before we were taking off to Ecuador for the holidays and still had not found the watch based on my leads, she suggested that we go to Macy’s. I didn’t think they carried the Movado watch but she impatiently insisted. She was of course correct and they had a fair collection of Movado watches. When we found the Movado “Museum Classic,” she wasn’t really enthusiastic, tried to talk me out of it, but we finally purchased it. I also fell in love with the “Rado” Swiss watch and purchased it as well. So I was thrilled because I now had two lovely watches with which to start my collection.
Fast forward to Christmas day and we are exchanging gifts with her lovely family. Her mother offers me my gift and I did a great job acting surprised that she knew that this was the watch I always wanted. A little later that evening, Alexandra offered me her gift with a somewhat disappointing look on her face. When I opened it, it was a beautiful silver Movado watch! She recalled that at some point I had nonchalantly took interest as we passed a watch store somewhere in our myriad and exotic travels, and surmised correctly, without ever knowing my attraction to or connection to this particular watch, that I would love this watch. This was the reason why she wasn’t enthusiastic about the one I had chosen: She had already purchased the silver one as a surprise! So I now had three watches, which I felt was a bit extravagant so I returned the Rado. Although never having worn a watch in my life, I have been wearing one of these watches daily since Christmas.
Interestingly, as we were looking at the watches in Macy’s for my Christmas gift, I noticed a beautiful “Hamilton” watch, which was identical to a Hamilton watch I had inherited from my uncle Thaddheus when he died in the 1980’s. I never wore a watch so I basically stored it away since then. I dug it out and despite being from the 1950’s, it was beautiful and identical to the new version sold at Macy’s. As I stated above, I had the idea of “time” on my mind, so in keeping with this theme, I had it restored and offered it to Alexandra to celebrate our first wedding anniversary in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I presented the Hamilton to Alexandra with the words that it marked the passage of time that we were sharing together and along with the watch she had offered to me, would provide us with the opportunity to mark our time together in a concrete manner.
This idea of marking time stemmed from my idea of “Ding” moments that came to my mind during a beautiful dinner I had with friends ten years ago. We were having such a fabulous time that I was inspired to stand up to interrupt one of the many rib shattering fits of laughter we were having, and strike a glass to create a “ding” sound as one does to indicate that a toast was being offered. It wasn’t really a toast but improvising and dead serious, I pointed out that it was of the utmost importance to mark such special moments or else they would get lost in our collective consciousness soup. Similar to dog-earring a remarkable passage in a book to indicate that it was special and facilitate finding it again. Without the dog-earring, it would be almost impossible to find that lovely passage, or even the book with the passage of time. It is the very act of dog-earring that solders it into one’s memory. It occurred to me at that moment that without these markers, it all becomes a blur. At that moment, I coined the term “Ding Moments” to commemorate those special moments in our lives.
Time is so ephemeral and intangible. Where did the years go from being a bushy, wide-eyed adolescent to my present reality of 58 years old (fortunately still bushy and wide-eyed!)? I remember holding my beautiful son Tristan in one hand when he was born, and just attended his college graduation last week. He is now 6'1" with the body of Greek God and a grand personality that keeps him at the center of attention. Where did those 24 years go? Did any of it even happen? In the same way, I imagine myself at the age of 90 lying in a nursing home with a foley catheter dangling from my penis and covered with decubitus ulcers because some embittered nurse couldn’t be bothered to move my demented soul often enough to prevent them (NB: I am not at all saying that nurses are generally embittered as I have tremendous respect for the amazing, professional, incredibly challenging and compassionate work that nurses perform. I am simply referring to this particular nurse.). At that moment, just waiting to die, all that would be left would be my memories. Without the dog-earring, the “Ding Moments,” it would all be random images emerging from a consciousness soup.
Perhaps because I was always fascinated with stories, literature, ideas, books and words, I somehow subconsciously learned and have always dog-eared my life. I later learned that it was indeed a form of mindfulness meditation that I was applying to my everyday life, thereby attributing relevance to certain moments and allowing me to cherish them at the very moment they were occurring as well as memories. It was similar to my habit of going back to certain passages of a book and reading them over and over again, as though attempting to squeeze out yet another lesson, secret message, and emotion; and then learning that this same passage took on completely different meanings at different points of my life. What I coined as “Ding Moments” was simply that very same process of paying homage to the passages in my life, both contemporaneously and retrospectively.
I recall my high school English teacher, Bernie O’Toole, who was one of two teachers who had a profound influence on me, and more over, one of the only two who I actually remember. He was addressing the issue of reading the “Monarch Notes” or “Cliff Note” summaries of great literature while twirling his long, upturned mustache, and asked: “Do you want to eat Spam for the rest of your life, or a savory Filet Mignon?”
“Ding Moments” are a celebration of life, and although highlighting particular moments, they give light to the beauty, mystery, and majesty of a life in which these moments can arise.To ignore them as most do is to say that “Spam” or a Big Mac is the equivalent of a Filet Mignon at a Michelin-rated restaurant. So I ask you: “Do you want to eat Spam for the rest of your life, or a savory Filet Mignon?”
I am an emergency physician, writer and a lover of life. The purpose of this blog is to share my ideas, experiences and perspectives as they relate to Consciousness, and as they evolve. Consciousness encompasses everything in my life, your life, the world, the Universe — in other words — EVERYTHING! As the great Shaman Don Diego used to say: “It’s not the most important thing, and it’s not the least important thing…It’s the ONLY thing!”
Check out my novel: “The Twin Flames, the Master, and the Game”! It’s available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Balboa Press.
