24 Sep “Magic Moments” by Neil Osgood
Remember what it feels like to have that “Magic Moment”… . the complete overload of emotions, that feel good factor as all the endorphins rush around your body. We all wish we could bottle these feelings and bring them out when we need them most.
For me this involves setting, planning and achieving a goal.. the magic moment culminating in the achievement after all the hard work has paid off.
Over the past ten years I’ve set and achieved some magical personal goals: Visiting New York, attending 5 Grand Slam Tennis Events (in 3 different countries) completing 5 Marathons (26 Half Marathons), scaling the 3 National Peaks in under 24 hours, completing a Half Iron Man and many more. The common denominator to all these in creating the “Magic Moment” involved asking myself “Why do I want to do this?” and anchoring the goal firmly using emotions and senses. The most memorable of these moments was a visit to Disney World in Florida.
After first seeing the Advance Peak Performance material numerous years ago, I had written on my Life List (bucket list) “Take my kids to Disney, USA”. An opportunity arose where some friends asked if we would like to go with them and this linked to my children reaching an age where they could take part and enjoy all the activities in Florida so my wife and I decided to go for it. All seemed well, although the very large hurdle in front of me was the 9.5 hours on a plane to get there when I’d developed a fear of flying several years earlier!!!
It is at that moment that I asked myself the question “Why do I want to do this?”
For me, it came down to providing my kids with the opportunity of visiting one of the most special places on the planet, an opportunity I’d never had and who knows if we’d get the chance again. With family being of the most importance to me, this was the trigger to start planning how do I make this a reality?
I created a picture in my head of turning the corner onto the iconic “Main Street” in Magic Kingdom and taking my kids by their hands and leading them towards Cinderella’s castle. I could hear the sounds of other people doing the same with their own kids and the excitement in their voices; the smell of typical American food wafting past my nose and then looking down at my boys’ faces to witness the look of pure joy – we are here!!!.
Committing this down in writing and reading it two or three times a day alongside the visual in my mind helped hugely. In addition, I also developed other small mini goals to supplement this. These included meeting my friends in the airport in America (they would be flying in from another UK airport), finding a special song that represented the trip and helped me relax on the plane and creating images/goals of the activities we would be doing whilst on holiday (included virtual tours online of the American airport and the Disney sites). With all these I replicated the same process as my main picture to increase the intensity.
The day came and we arrived at Manchester Airport. Although nervous I concentrated my thoughts on the joys awaiting our family on the other side of the Atlantic. The flight went without incident and after we landed in America my goals started to become reality. I remember walking around the arrivals hall in Orlando playing my special song and tears rolling down my cheeks – whenever I hear this song it triggers the same reaction. Our friends then arrived and we had a huge group hug before getting ourselves off to our accommodation.
The following day we travelled over to Magic Kingdom and waited for the park to open. As the characters arrived on the train I was started to well up and managed to just hold it together. We walked into the park and within a few minutes I was grabbing my boys’ hands, my heart was pumping as we rounded the corner of “Main Street” – WOW……. the picture that lay ahead of me was identical and looking down at my kids and seeing their faces provided the realisation of achieving this goal and all the emotions then came out.. I was sobbing!!!
Needless to say we had a fantastic time and created memories I will never forget.
Keep on creating and sprinkling those Magic Moments!!!!