The right place at the right time

[doctork]

Last night on the PBS Newshour, they showed a piece on Dr. Larry Brilliant, who commented on the obligation to live up to his name "Brilliant" without seeming arrogant. Dr. Brilliant was a "hippies 1960's doc" originally from Detroit who became an internationally renowned public health expert who was an important impetus to eliminate smallpox from the face of the globe. He has a new book out, "Sometimes Brilliant," and among the comments is the note that he had a gift "To be in the right place at the right time" from the hippies of the 1960's and his guidance from his guru Neem Karoli Baba (same guru to Ram Dass), his links to the American Indian Protest on Alcatraz Island, friendship with Wavy Gravy at Woodstock c. 1969, through the decades right up to the current days and involvement with Ebola and Zika and his work with Skoll Foundation and Seva Foundation.

Is that like Woody Allen's Zelig?

Have I also been so lucky? I often think of all the influential people who have crossed my path, who I've crossed theirs. Ram Dass is one of many that Dr. Brilliant and I have in common. And perhaps I thought of it because of my comments about Robert Osborne in one of the other threads.

Is it a coincidence to be in the right place at the right time? Or must one deliberately aim there life that way? I was lucky enough to learn my goal and purpose in life at age 40, at a seminar with Phillip Moffitt at Esalen Institute, then I made sure I focused on my goal to have fun & adventures. One relevant website: www.lifebalanceinstitute.com/about/phillip-moffitt/biography. Of course a major instrument for me in this effort is the nature of my profession and my work.

Is it random to find yourself at the right place and the right time? Or must you pursue it deliberately? Is it a natural outflow of the life you choose? Have you found yourself at the right place at the right time for your life? Did you get there through some events that were definitely the wrong place and the wrong time?

[BoatBabe]

This is a fabulous conversation topic, Doc! So . . . as I see it, you are asking us how we each view our lives: Was it accidental? By chance? By Divine Guidance? Did we make it happen ourselves? Was it all planned out before we got here? Fascinating . . . I'll need to think about this for a while . . .

[Jane]

I always took the road more traveled by. I think about all the things I passed up, passed by, passed over and am filled with rue. "I coulda been a contender."

[BoatBabe]

It seems to me that each time I think I've got it figured out, some weirdly bizarre circumstance pops up and smashes the landscape; then stands there gleefully chortling, as I scramble to find the new path, picking up shards of the old path I can salvage. Sometimes there are no shards left, and it's a Different Life.

That's why I have a problem-solving job. I'm good at it.

[doctork]

So true - the unexpected adverse consequences of what seemed like a good idea at the time. Then the opposite - you come to a fork in the road and you take it, just like Yogi Berra said, surprise - it turns out great.

I think I have often made a concerted effort to have the life I have, and the adventures I've had. The first time I went to Afghanistan, I really wanted to go but it was very hard to get over the hurdles that kept popping up. Then God told me I was going. Prior to that event, I had thought that only schizophrenics heard God tell them what to do. After God told me I was going, I said to myself "OK, He says I'm going, so I am." All of a sudden roadblocks rolled out of the way, help came from surprising sources, and I was off to Kabul!

Sometimes the karma is off and I cancel a trip or chose a different action. One time I was scheduled to fly to the DC area via Chicago, but I felt a little uncomfortable like I shouldn't go through Chicago so I called the travel agent and asked her to change me to the non-stop from Denver to Dulles, instead of the connection DEN-ORD-Baltimore (Baltimore was my actual destination). The agent pointed out it would be a much longer drive from Dulles, I said that's OK, I know the area. The DEN-ORD flight I did not take was the one that crashed in the Iowa corn field.

Maybe it's like a "gut feeling" or a "little voice in my head." I always pay attention to the little voice. The older I get, the more I hear it too.

I try to stay well-informed about possibilities so that I recognize them when they show up.

Often I have taken the road less traveled, but then the way I grew up - moving all around the world every 2 or 3 years, then dropping out of high school to run away to Europe - well, that is not normal. But it has turned out OK taking that road not traveled, so it's good.

Jane, I'd suggest "don't feel rueful." It's been you right path, and could not be otherwise. think of all your stories of kids in class. and companies. And all the things your own kids have done.

I was always very envious of my cousins who stayed in one place, had the same friends for decades, and lived normal lives.

[BoatBabe]

Yes, I agree that the circumstances we are born into begin our paths. I was born into a family of road-trippers. Mom was a great adventurer in a car, and often we would spend the weekends driving up in the mountains on old logging roads, with no particular destination; just exploring.

We did have to apply intention, packing the car with sandwiches and snacks, to make ourselves available for the adventure.

[doctork]

Though my dad was a pilot, we did lots of road trips when I was growing up. We drove to Florida almost every summer to visit family, even when we lived in California.

Whenever we moved someplace new, we took weekend road trips to visit all the tourist and historical sites in out new home. My mother did not want us to be like those who live in New York City all their lived but have never visited the Statue of Liberty. In fact, when we moved to NYC, two of the first places we visited in our first month there were the Statue of Liberty and the Vampire State Building. Well that is what my brother called it, he was misinformed, but quite relieved we didn't run into any vampires at the Empire State Building.

I took my first road trip on my own when I was 16. Having just gotten my license, I drove from New Orleans over to Pensacola to help my grandparents prepare to sell their house there and then move to Ormond Beach.

[BoatBabe]

Mar 10, 2017 14:14:02 GMT -5 doctork said:

Is it random to find yourself at the right place and the right time? Or must you pursue it deliberately? Is it a natural outflow of the life you choose? Have you found yourself at the right place at the right time for your life? Did you get there through some events that were definitely the wrong place and the wrong time?

I'm still thinking about these questions. I have noticed that people use different words to explain a similar phenomenon: Doc said that God spoke to her; I know women who hear The Goddess speaking to them; I've always called it "Listening to myself," or intuition; Elea calls it Serendipity; Fate, Karma, and Destiny are often used.

Whatever you call it, it seems to require a mindful recognition of the process or phenomenon. When it is ignored, or not listened to, the door is closed, just as Joe so eloquently said.

I've always wondered, if that door is closed, does it ever open up again?



Grampa Murray was more pragmatic. He always called it Logic. His theory was that when there were decisions to be made and he had narrowed it down to the two best options, it didn't matter which he chose. He had vetted both options, and each were of equal weight, so it didn't matter which decision he made: they both were right and good choices. Just Pick One. He was also a great supporter of "Don't ever look back and second-guess yourself," and "No regrets."

The way I see it, in order for Grampa Murray to come up with his Logic Theory, he had to be mindful of the Open Door.