Life Flashes: When Life Resembles An Episode of Lost

Have you ever experienced a life “flash” moment like those depicted in the television hit series Lost? You know, one day you’re simply going along in one direction, the flash happens, and suddenly you find yourself headed in a different direction? Doesn’t it remind you of the electromagnetic time continuum flashes that happen on Lost? Life flashes are the kind of colossal moments that make you want to bang your head against a hatch and say, “What in the*hecky-heck-heckfire* just happened here and what do I do now?” (*_*You may insert your own superlatives here or refer to Lost video in sidebar to the right.)

I am not going to attempt to postulate on quantum physics or parallel universalism theories by comparing the show’s flashes to real life flashes. Lucky for you, I know absolutely nothing about either one of those subjects. However, I have had a few real-life flash moments, so I do have some ideas about the process of surviving them.



A life flash may be an unexpected relationship change, the sudden death of someone you love, a catastrophic health event that happens to you or someone close to you, economic loss or any number of events that take us by surprise when they happen. Not all life flashes are devastatingly terrible. Sometimes, life flashes are wonderful and propel us into greater depths of success or joy or love. Although the wonderful flashes are not what this post is about, I do hope each of you reading this will have more good than bad flashes in the sum of your lives.

Describing the mysteries of the show Lost, Wikipedia has this to say about the electromagnetic flash phenomenon:

The [electromagnetic] barrier poses a threat to those entering or leaving it, particularly if they have been exposed to a high amount of electromagnetism. Doing so under these circumstances can lead to one's consciousness traveling through time (called "temporal displacement" on the show) eventually resulting in death unless a "constant" can be found between the present and the destination time period.

I don’t know about you but I’m not a big fan of temporal displacement. I believe in progress and forward motion in life. I believe one should always be learning and growing intellectually, creatively and spiritually. As a result of those beliefs, I accept change as an integral part of that ongoing process. What I am resistant to are the flash experiences that send one’s life reeling in a completely different and wholly unpleasant direction.

Real-life temporal displacement has the potential to drain not only energy, but hope. Even though physical death is rarely an end product for most people, what do you do when your heart is sick because you have lost hope? How do you move forward after one of those life flashes? Here are a few ideas:

· Find your constant. In the show Lost, the only thing that keeps the character from dying is finding a “constant” between their present and destination time periods. Mirrored in reality, in order to keep your hope from dying, you need to find your constant. Faith? Family? A friend? A fallback activity you do to help you work through the emotions/pain? Whatever it is, and it may be a combination of things, find it and keep it in the forefront of everything you do.

· Live in the present. Make a conscious effort to live in the present. You cannot change the past; you usually can’t figure out what caused the flash and if you can, there is nothing you can do about it once it has happened anyway; and you certainly cannot predict the future. So reduce unnecessary stress by learning to live in the present.

· Understand that the temporal is not always tied to your destiny. It’s okay and even necessary sometimes to let certain things or people go should you determine that they are not tied to your destiny.

· Make a BIG move toward your destination. Human beings are created for movement and forward progress, so as soon as you are able, make a BIG move toward your destination. Make the move significant and momentous enough so that you can use it as a point of reference between the before and after and to measure forward progress.

· Revisit your faith. Revisiting implies making a conscious effort to go to that place of faith where hope is resident.

· Transform your circumstances into something useful. Nothing can be done about the flash, but you can use your circumstances to propel you forward.

British hostage, Terry Waite, spent nearly five years in captivity, and almost four of those years were in solitary confinement after being seized by Islamic Jihad from a go-between’s house in Lebanon. Talk about a devastating and instantaneous life flash! It was during his third mission to negotiate the release of western hostages that Mr. Waite became a hostage himself. During his captivity, he was frequently blindfolded, beaten, and subjected to mock executions. He lived much of the time chained to a radiator, suffered desperately from asthma, and was transported in a giant refrigerator as his captors moved him about. Upon reflecting on his brutal mistreatment and the constant struggle to maintain his faith, he had this to say:

“I have been determined in captivity, and still am determined, to convert this experience into something that will be useful and good for other people. I think that’s the way to approach suffering.”

When my mother teetered on the verge of life and death for seven weeks after a brain aneurysm rupture in 2006, we experienced a life defining flash together as a family as well as individually, though none of us more than mom because the injury changed her cognitively and physically as well. She has emerged a champion.

I do not know how the series Lost will end, just as I do not know how life will end. What I do know is that as we each champion our life flashes (with a few humbling bumps and bruises along the way) we will emerge more confident, composed and enlightened as we discover the joy in the journey toward our ultimate destination. Of course, we will do all of this while we wait for - you got it - the next flash!

Life, like the television show Lost, is meant to be enjoyed... and...
to be continued!

~Solissea