Chloe: Critic Girl/Renaissance Woman

Michael Gelb asks: What are the most influential experiences of your life?

He suggests a more structured way of examining them, including making a list and then summarizing them in one sentence. Then, think about how you apply these lessons on an everyday basis.

I think that Mr. Gelb gives experience a short shift. Naturally, I can come up with the quintessential seven or so (as he requests) that read rather like a fifth grade biography project: when my brother was born, when my parents divorced, when took my first acting class, when I went on Outward Bound, when I worked my first job, etc.

Of course, I am coupling experience with events and they are not quite the same thing. But I think there are a number of influential experiences in my life that defy simple compartment. Either they are happy accidents (discovering my interest for the law through a last minute summer job) or experiences that have always been there and always drive me - my love of the ocean and wind, relationships with those I take care of - and those I’ve learned to let take care of me.

I re-discover myself daily with the batch of lessons that I have acquired and collected throughout my short life and certainly have many more to learn and to develop and to cherish. So, I would like to, as I usually do, address this in my own way.

What lessons have I learned today? Over time, my experiences have led me to a certain indulgence when I feel low or tired and this past year, I’ve let myself indulge more frequently than usual. Today, however, when I had a planned shop for necessary items (suddenly, I’m wearing a suit every day and am woefully unprepared), though not dire ones, and was falling into my regular justification, I paused. I took a deep breath and thought about what I was doing and how I was feeling and realized that today was not a day for sympathy shopping. And so here I am, indulging in something I love just as well - creating new dishes from found items in my home - and satisfying the feeling that I am having today.

Living in the moment. It is an incomparable feeling and a lesson or an experience to constantly strive for. I believe that the sum of my most influential experiences fall here under this category. I have learned to make lemonade from my life’s lemons, to celebrate the windfalls, and I’m always striving to listen to myself and take care of what needs nurturing today.

And in the scheme of learning to think like Leonardo, this might be an exceptionally valuable quest. He was curious about everything; he asked questions about everything as it was happening with a fresh eye. Questioning and experiencing and examining are all essential portions of living in the moment. And he, if I may say so, was a master.

tags: Leo, dimostrazione