We seek a lot of things in life. Some seek peace; some seek happiness; some seek money; some seek pleasures; some seek knowledge, and so on. Whatever we seek in life, we start looking for them in our daily lives, which eventually becomes our life. What we practice, we become. In a podcast episode, @naval mentioned "The 'Aha!' moment". He said he lives for the "Aha!" moments in his life and went on to explain it. It got me thinking and made me realize some things. Let me explain.
The "Aha!" Moment (TAM)
At a basic level, an "Aha!" moment is when you truly understand something. Let's call it TAM going forward, an abbreviation I made up to avoid typing too much. Let's face it, it's Sunday, and we're all lazy. Typically, TAM is when you realize, "Ahh, that's what it means," or "Oh yeah, now I understand." We have all experienced these moments in various stages of life, and they are moments of complete satisfaction, no matter how big or trivial they may be. They are moments of insight, so to speak.
It is like fitting a piece into your puzzle of understanding from which you could potentially derive other ideas. Once you understand something on that level, it's hard to forget it. Practically, it might vanish from the top of your mind, but it is a part of you. It's like riding a bike or basic addition – you might lose touch, but it's hard to forget them altogether.
Embodiments
When I thought more about TAMs, I had a TAM. I realized that there is more to TAMs beyond just intellectual insights. TAMs embody themselves in our lives more than we realize. If we stop and look, we experience TAMs every day on little or big scales. Here are a few embodiments of TAMs which I have experienced:
- Moments of self-awareness – your behaviors, your biases, your emotions, etc.
- Moments of truth that hit you hard and blunt.
- When you accept reality without any judgment or reservation.
- When you realize where you have been focusing your energy on.
- When some things that never made sense gradually start making sense.
- When you learn about and appreciate the people around you.
- When you see the world as it is, bridging the gap between your dreams and reality.
- When you have a revelation or an epiphany, even if it's a small thing that you haven't noticed before.
- Small moments of satisfaction when you know you've done the right thing to the best of your abilities.
- When you discover a new song, a movie, or a book, that you like a lot.
- When you zoom out and view the bigger picture.
- When you realize what is under your control and what is not.
- When you realize how small you are in the grand scheme of things.
Stepping off the positivity train, even the negative TAMs are helpful in the long run. It is not just when you understand something but also when you realize when you don't understand something. It is not just when you learn when you are right but also when you are wrong. It is not just big revelations that give valuable insights; it's the small ones too. TAMs embody themselves not only in intellectual realizations or groundbreaking revelations but also in small personal things. No matter the nature or the scale, the learning is the same.
Final Thoughts
Irrespective of our age, we never stop growing as a person. We constantly grow and evolve, whether we realize it or not. When we seek these moments, they pack many things like gratitude, knowledge, peace, happiness, humility, and such. I'm going to start paying more attention to these moments to make the most out of them. How about you? What do you think of this train of thought? I'd love to hear your thoughts. Thanks for reading!
