A Moment of Forever

You were young enough to dream
And I was old enough to learn something new
I’m so glad I got to dance with you
For a moment of forever

–Kris Kristofferson, “Moment of Forever”

The world loses icons every day. Sadly, it’s the nature of reality.

Sometimes, those icons are mere abstractions, as you know of the person’s work, but you’ve never actually interacted with them. Other icons, however, have a more personal connection, and therefore their loss hits a lot harder.

Over the past several days, we lost two iconic figures that I had personal connections with. The first was baseball legend Pete Rose, who died Monday at his home in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was 83.

Rose is indubitably one of the greatest baseball players of all time, and when I was a kid playing little league baseball, I wanted to be Pete Rose. Why Pete Rose? Well, because he outworked everyone else.

Rose attacked life with fervor and a relentless aggression that made him standout even amidst his elite — and often more physically gifted — peers. All you had to do was witness how Rose ran the bases to understand why he was my hero. He did it with full conviction. And the way I approach life, full conviction is the only option. I knew that approach was right for me as a kid, and I know it to be even more right nearly four decades later.

As for the personal connection, it was in Las Vegas roughly 15 years ago when I was invited to a luncheon by a friend who works in the sports entertainment business. At that lunch were some well-known luminaries of the sports world. However, there was none more luminous than Pete Rose. The man was super interesting, too, telling tales of the Cincinnati Reds “Big Red Machine” years, which also happened to correspond with my childhood fandom.

I never interacted with Rose again after that lunch, but it was a very cool moment of forever that I will always cherish.

And speaking of “moments of forever,” this week, we lost iconic singer/songwriter, actor and country music legend Kris Kristofferson, who died Saturday at his home in Maui, Hawaii. He was 88.

As a songwriter and musician, Kristofferson’s work had a big influence on me. And though my own songwriting is in a slightly different genre, the lyrical grit and depth of his storytelling is as good as any songwriter that’s ever done it.

Just check out the lyrics for classics such as “Me and Bobby McGee,” “Help Me Make It Through the Night,” and “For the Good Times,” and you’ll be instantly transported into a time, place, feeling and situation that, while likely foreign to you in detail, will be all-too familiar emotionally.

Two of my favorite Kristofferson songs actually come from his later work, and they are “This Old Road,” and the aforementioned song I began this week’s issue with, “Moment of Forever.” The latter performance here is from a 2009 appearance on the TV series, “Austin City Limits,” which happens to be one of my favorite shows.

I saw this episode around the time of its original airing, and after hearing the song and feeling its power, I decided to learn it so that I could perform my own version. About a year later, I did just that at a friend’s wedding. It was powerful moment for me, and for those who attended the nuptials. It was indeed a true “moment of forever” for us all.

And herein lies the reason why I chose to reflect on this topic in this week’s issue.

You see, life is made up of a series of “moments of forever.” Fortunately, we can choose to make those moments memorable, and we can choose to live in those moments while they occur. Indeed, we can choose to engage our minds and train our attention to these moments, and to every moment, as our lives are simply a series of brief, sublime, happy, sad, painful, joyous and otherwise mundane moments of forever.

Think about it another way. Your life is now, this moment… And this moment… And this moment, etc.

So, why not learn to make these moments of forever the most meaningful they can be?

Interestingly, the nature of our minds actually works against us in this effort. Most of the time we are “lost in thought,” worried about the things in our past we cannot alter and fretting over what might go wrong in a future that’s not guaranteed.

To break this spell, we all need some mental training that allows us to realize that the contents of our consciousness are there for the taking — if we develop the skills required to do so.

Now, there are many different ways to cultivate this skill. And like all sorts of skills, some people will have a greater aptitude than others for learning what it takes to capture those moments of forever. I suspect that I have a strong aptitude here, as learning how to consciously liberate myself from being lost in thought has come somewhat easier to me than I ever thought it would.

One technique I used to cultivate this skill is through a practice called mindfulness meditation. The tool I found most helpful in learning how to put this practice in place is an app called “Waking Up,” by neuroscientist and author Sam Harris.

A key reason I favor the Waking Up approach is because it takes you beyond the simplistic relaxation techniques of some meditation practices and allows you to experience the freedom that comes from real mindfulness. And the best part of it for me is that it comes without any New Age fluff or Eastern religious dogma. I reject all of that, and so does Waking Up.

If you want to enhance your mind by learning how to liberate yourself from being “lost in thought,” and if you want to capture all those glorious moments of forever that life’s replete with, then train your mind to do just that. I guarantee it will increase your mental wealth — and with an increased mental wealth, you can focus even more intensely on increasing your financial wealth.

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Disobedience Is a Virtue

“Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man’s original virtue.”

–Oscar Wilde

While the stakes are high with any presidential election, the events since the Covid pandemic and the subsequent election strife in 2020 have made this presidential contest one of the most important in recent memory — indeed, it’s certainly more important than any I’ve been party to in my voting life. And while we will all likely vote for either Trump or Harris, keep in mind that a protest vote of “disobedience” is, in my view, an act of virtue.

So, if you aren’t “for” either of the candidates, be disobedient and choose an alternative–or choose not to select either. The choice is yours, and because you’re an American, you have the right to cast a vote of disobedience.

Wisdom about money, investing and life can be found anywhere. If you have a good quote that you’d like me to share with your fellow readers, send it to me, along with any comments, questions and suggestions you have about my newsletters, seminars or anything else. Click here to ask Jim.

In the name of the best within us,

Jim Woods