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Turning Points Part 2
In the movie, The Piano, there seem to be several turning points. The main character (Helen Hunt) is married off to New Zealand. There she falls in love with a laborer, employee of her husband. Seeming turning points.
Why are these not real turning points?
We will only be dealing with created, conscious, turning points, not when life changes or we change, but it’s not conscious. These are moments when we are unusually strongly connected to Life, and thus can cause our lives to turn instead of continuing down the same unproductive path.
The real turning point, in the movie, happens on the way back to the States: Helen Hunt’s character decides to end her life. She, unbeknownst to others, ties her ankle to her beloved piano. Half way to the ship (I think) she orders the men to throw the piano overboard. They comply and the heavy piano pulls Helen Hunt’s character to the depth of the ocean.
There, to her surprise, (she says in the movie: what a surprise! my will has chosen life!) the will to live proves stronger than the brooding, moody, identity she had created for herself, the moody desire to die that she had probably postponed a million times.
Her desire to live wins out and she reconnects to Life. She kicks of her socks and shoes and reemerges.
In America she learns to speak (she was a mute till that point), and becomes a real person.
A real turning point. (4 minutes into the movie. You miss it if you don’t know what you are looking for, if you don’t have the distinction: choosing Life)
Consider that being afraid of death, hurt, disease is not a commitment to Life.
You have never chosen to live, so you can middle, survive, and be dead in the world of the living.
To live is to be big. Life is to grow. Life is to defy gravity, to expand, to meet life head-on.
You are shrinking to the mere mention of real life… aren’t you?
And you have some vague notions of longing, and thirsting, and hunger, but no commitment.
So what made Helen Hunter’s suicide attempt a turning point?
Although she is a mute, she talks in her head, and we, the audience can hear it.
We hear her internal dialog. In the incident and right after that, right after she scarcely believes that she wants to live. She commits to living, not like before when she was merely surviving.
Did life get easier because she committed? No. That is not the nature of life: actually with each commitment it gets harder, maybe that’s why so few people make any commitment, ever.
But life is life. Life doesn’t mean easy. Life’s job is to make you, force you to grow.
This is what we call a real turning point.
PS: if you have seen Harold and Maud: what is the turning point there? Did you notice? Any other movie where you can recall there is a real and strong turning point?
Click here to go to Part 3 of this series: Turning points
That is the current culture: by encouraging you not to take responsibility for your actions, they rob you of your ability to change them.
It doesn’t look like I am going to write those articles today… maybe tomorrow. I’ll make it a movie afternoon, with your permission. ok?
I knew it was the remedy, and vowed to not ever let it run out, that’s the only commitment I’ve been able to establish thus far. It was so much easier to just blame everything on others! After reading Garnier-Malet’s book, Change Your Future Through Time Openings, I enjoyed many months of blaming everything on my double. What a bunch of BS!
I experienced a turning point this week, without even realizing it was a turning point. My significant other of 8 1/2 years was very angry at me. He had done something I just didn’t agree with, so I lashed out by becoming mean, hateful, angry, and only able to verbalize in four letter words or less, to the tune of, “fuck this, I’m out of here.” (sorry, but that’s what I said, and that’s normally how I do express myself). In a matter of seconds, I had gathered my belongings and was headed to the door. With one foot out the door, I stopped in my tracks, turned around, and went back to where we were sitting. He was stunned, because he’s been dealing with this for so long. I was stunned because I’ve handled life and criticism this way for 53 years. We talked for several hours, and I still experienced the pain of hearing about myself, knowing that it was all true, but I did not have the urge to run and hide any longer. Why did this happen now, after all these years of misery, and going from relationship to relationship? I honestly don’t know, but I’d like to believe that I finally chose to LIVE!
not going to last unless you have a clear commitment. The moment you stop taking the remedy, it will be back full force.
Wait for the installments where I illustrate how to speak turning point into reality and how to honor it as yourself.
so far it is something that happened to you.