Little voices in my head

Saying goodbye to the day
Laval, QC
August 2010

About this photo: It's Thematic's "cloudy" week, which means you're invited to dive right into the festivities. What the devil am I talking about? Click here and all will be answered.

Warning: I'm feeling metaphysical today. Don't know why, and don't mean to scare anyone. But there it is...

The word "calling" is a fascinating one. It can refer to that innate feeling deep inside you, often present from the moment a cluster of cells begins coalescing into the being you will ultimately become, that literally defines what you'll do when you become said person. That calling determines not only what we'll do in life, but what we will do with such passion that we can't imagine doing anything else.

I write. My wife teaches. Neither of us sees any of this as work; it's what we were destined to do, to become. We're cool with whatever forces of the universe struck us way back when to set us on this path. We're enjoying the journey, and we're thankful.

Callings also exist on a tactical, day-to-day level. Like when you catch a glimpse of something, and a little voice inside your head tells you to do something. Like the evening I took the photo above, when a sliver of late-evening light slipped through the blinds and lit up the sofa Just So. I stopped what I was doing, fascinated by the color. It was soft, warm, different from anything I had ever seen before.

I didn't need to ask twice: I just knew it was time to reach for my camera and follow the light. Unseen, unheard, unwritten. I. Just. Knew.

It's moments like this when you can choose one of two courses of action: You either follow that calling or you don't. Sometimes, the voice makes itself heard at rather inconvenient times, like when you're at the wheel of a fast-moving automobile. Bad idea to distract yourself at that moment, so you file it away for another time. Other times, you're otherwise free to follow the voice, to see where you end up.

I rather like how this calling business works. What's your calling?