This is #53 of 108 Ways to Livin’ the Moment. Let’s take back our lives one beautiful, funny and delicious moment at a time.

#53 of 108: Take Down the Grinch

When I was young, I got to know an invisible rabbit friend named Harvey.

Actually, it was my dad’s “friend” and he would lean on Harvey for “important information.”

I would ask things like, “Dad, I’m hungry. How much longer til the food comes?”

And like clockwork, my dad would summon the invisible rabbit friend, “Harvey, can you go back to the kitchen and see what’s taking so long?”

Harvey “would return” with an answer and all was good in my world.

But then it all came crashing down in second grade. My friend Josh came to lunch with us and promptly declared, “There’s no such thing as invisible friends. There never was and there never will be.”

This took place at an age (seven years old) when it’s hard for a father to perpetuate the myth of invisible friends.

“David it’s true. Harvey is made up,” my dad said, pulling the curtain on the make-believe era.

I must have looked as if someone was waxing my gooch, such was the pain of this discovery.

It happens to each of us, the loss of innocence.

But to have someone like Josh spear the legend of Harvey right in the heart…was on par with a young child being told there is no Santa Clause, or that his hero Justin Bieber is actually a 34 year old lesbian.

~

ABC News reported that a 24 year old man was arrested this week in Toronto for being drunk at a Christmas parade and yelling at all the kids in attendance, “Santa isn’t real!”

As one parent in the crowd complained, “There’s too little magic in the world as it is” and therefore, we must keep the legend of Santa alive for as long as possible.

No matter your age, there’s something to be said for those magical stories and myths that give us an excuse to…

Look up!

In fact, the New York City authorities have strategically placed these words, “LOOK UP” on sidewalks and placards all over Manhattan to prevent “text walkers” from getting hit by cars.

It’s a sign of our times that we’re looking down, not just on the streets, but in our stumbling quest for meaning and purpose.

Deepak Chopra once told his son, “The most important thing you’ll ever learn is how to tell great stories.”

And that is a message not just for moms and kids.

As screenwriting legend and business consultant Robert McKee said, “A big part of a CEO’s job is to motivate people to reach certain goals. To do that, he or she must engage their emotions, and the key to their hearts is story.”

So once in your day, make it a habit to look up.

That’s where you’ll find Santa, Harvey the Invisible Rabbit, and the hidden meaning in every myth and fairy tale that ever was and ever will be:

Something does not have to be real, to be true!

 ~

Momenteer: The countdown is on!

It’s been years in the making and we are approaching Launch Day for The Momenteer Movement. I am deep in the process of bringing this baby to life and I look forward to the big day in January when I get to invite you to go Momenteering.  If you could use that little kick in the tush to look up and show up fully for your life…

Email [email protected] and write Momenteer! in the subject.

Ed: Lynn Hasselberger

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