One of the most challenging aspects of a forward-thinking life is to walk the line between living in the moment and preparing for tomorrow. Our lives are filled with opportunities to make choices. Sometimes we choose to pull joy out of short term pleasures. But we also recognize that if we fail to plan for what’s to come, we may end up in a frustrated future looking back on what amounts to a mental picture book of nice memories.

The big question is, knowing that time will pass regardless of which way we decide to go, how will we feel when we stand in tomorrow looking back at today? Recognize that how we feel now about now may be quite different from how we will feel about now after some time passes. And since once this moment passes, it can never be changed, it’s in our best interest to do what we can to make the right choice. So imagine yourself in the near future looking back at now and try to predict how you will feel about the course you have taken. It’s quite possibly your best guide as to how to act in the present moment.

The beautiful thing about a good movie is that for the ninety to one hundred and twenty minutes that you are sitting in that darkened room, the filmmaker has your undivided attention. Every piece of information that transmits through your senses was a choice. What you see, what you hear and how you see and hear it has all been pored over by the Director, the Editor and often the Producers. From the writer’s choice of words to the framing of visual information by the Director and DP (Director of Photography) the story is told very specifically. Because all of this information is so highly controlled, so are the messages being sent. And the result is the potential for a mental and emotional disorientation from self. We suspend our egos and, for a brief while, forget who we are and the constructs of our lives. We float freely in another world, able to learn and process and form new opinions. It’s simply beautiful. The freeing nature of this experience can be very therapeutic and I know that, for me, when the lights come back on and I return to my life, it is always with fresh eyes and a renewed vigor.

Taking that newly found energy and perspective back into my life and relationships is what I find truly intoxicating about the movies!

I was heading home from a wonderful day on the High Line. The weather had been perfect and now as the sun set over the Hudson, and the breeze was blowing, I waited for the M14 bus to take me home. After about twenty minutes it finally arrived. I was with my wife and thirteen-month-old who, at this point, was asleep in her stroller. The driver requested that I take her out before we boarded. I explained the situation, attempting to appeal to his sense of humanity, but it didn’t seem to matter – rules were rules. This did not please me.

Continue reading →