Be conscious about who you choose to spend you life with for they also have a say in defining you. Now without knowing you I’d guess that nine out of ten of your best moments had someone else in them - someone close, perhaps a dear friend or even people you have deeply loved. I imagine a little film played in your head (mine is in sepia for some reason), and you saw these moments fleeting quickly by. Close your eyes and quickly reflect on the best moments in your life. It sounds a touch calculating to hold a great deal of agency over who we befriend, but these are the people that will most influence us - so a little thought goes a long way. There’s no practical reason to be kind and patient or even to tip decently, but those who look at these things as unnecessary - their time too valuable, their life too important - are usually people you don’t want to closely align yourself with. If you’re really wondering about someone’s character though, pay attention to how they order their coffee. Some people say you can look at someone’s shoes or car or music taste and quickly figure out what they’re like. How We Order Our CoffeeĪnytime we’re being served, whether it’s at a restaurant, department store, or at Starbucks, the way we treat those who are serving us speaks loads about our character. The moments that define us to ourselves, often unnoticed by others, are manifold, but below are the ones that strike me as most influential, as most defining: 1. If we know we’re a fraud or a fake we’ll never be comfortable in our own skin. But what defines us to ourselves? This is an important question for it is what lets us sleep at night and gives us daily happiness. In fact, these moments often define us to others. These moments are often public, to be shared with others. There are the capital “M” Moments that define us like weddings and successful businesses and all that listed above. Or perhaps it’s our intentions? Is it our thoughts, our attitude, or maybe just our day-to-day outlook on life? And yet we zip through life trying to get to these big defining moments – our degree or wedding ring or job title - too often forgetting what the in-between steps - the steps that really define us.īut what exactly does define us if not a trophy on our mantle or a framed degree on our wall or a ring on our finger? Some say it’s our actions. The idea of legacy is a difficult concept to grasp, but it is the implicit driving force behind so many of our decisions and actions. We want to define ourselves with something lasting, be it a published book or a successful business or simply goodwill towards others. Plato privileged writing above all other forms of communication for it is the most permanent. Whether we’ll admit it or not, all of us, to a certain extent, want our lives to be indelible, our existence to be remembered. We’re attracted to people who are passionate, who get animated when talking about what they love be it politics or fashion or van Gogh or the French New Wave. Indeed, people are happier when they have something that they’re living for even if it’s just the next baseball game or piano recital or chance to go out and take photographs. We dress a certain way to fit in (remember emos?), we play sports or pursue an artistic hobby. From a very young age we search for something to define us. It is with this statement that we declare to honour and respect the past and present connection of Indigenous peoples with this land, its waterways and resources.Life has its obvious defining moments: graduation, our first house or apartment, falling in love and getting married, seeing loved ones pass, fighting illnesses, memorable trips, finding success, experiencing failure. These traditional territories, upon which we live and learn, are steeped in rich Indigenous history and traditions. We also acknowledge that various municipalities within the County of Dufferin reside within the treaty lands named under the Haldimand Deed of 1784 and two of the Williams Treaties of 1818: Treaty 18: the Nottawasaga Purchase, and Treaty 19: The Ajetance Treaty. We would like to respectfully acknowledge that Dufferin County resides within the traditional territory and ancestral lands of the Tionontati (Petun), Attawandaron (Neutral), Haudenosaunee (Six Nations), and Anishinaabe peoples. Read our mission statement and meet the team. Defining Moments Canada / Moments Déterminants Canada is a Canadian heritage organization dedicated to commemorating “definitional moments” in our shared histories through the stories that have made them significant.
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