_{By Michael McManus, President, CIBU}

Are we passive passengers or are we driving the ship? Does each of us deserve the chance to make the full pursuit of happiness? To go for the fullness of life? The US Constitution guarantees that every person has the right to the pursuit of happiness. If you have a chance see the movie “Pursuit of Happyness” with Will Smith. After that, you will know deeper what this is….

Well, I have made California home for the last half of my life. For that reason. My pursuit of happiness. They say we may not be able to choose where we are born or who our family is, but some of us can choose where we spend our time, where we choose to make our own pursuit of happiness. California, in its sunny days, blue skies, vastness, complexity, diversity has it all for my one life to call home.

So now, it is my time to give an accounting of what I think the pursuit has in it. What are the great moments and how can we try to incorporate these into our life and time so we may have what some would call the fullest chance at life? All my experiences, including my own, and those of my friends, loved ones, students, and some strangers I have known all add up to what I call the “Four Flashes of Life”. I am now writing a book about this to share with a wider audience. It may be a classic paperback book, it may be a “download on demand” I am now not sure. I once told a student group my goal is to be on Oprah, meaning Oprah Winfrey’s TV show, that usually guarantees a best-seller. Someone thought I said I want it to be an opera….very cool idea, especially since I know nothing about writing an opera! I want it known that I am open to anything…except that I will not sing this opera! I may be an OK writer, but a singer I am not!

OK…let’s get to it. Flash One. It is the Green Flash, some may have seen as the sun goes down over the horizon….it is seen by only a few….the last part of the prism of light, as the sun disappears, there is a flash of green…….this is really a metaphor for seeking special moments in nature, God’s gift to us in the environment of nature….we do need those moments….crisp air in a winter morning after a fresh snowfall….the whisper of mist from a waterfall on our face….I have seen the green flash once….on the beach in Hawaii…it is a real phenomenon….

Flash Two. The Pink Flash. This is romantic love which touches most all of us sooner or later and some of us several times. It is like a whoosh…before you know it, you are so bonded with another in a rush of romance….it can be ageless, unplanned, can end in joy or pain….we all need this to be truly human, and yet we are learning about it all our lives…the lessons go on and get some of us so engrossed and confused, we often think we are starting all over again…yet we must learn from each one and must follow our heart…no easy answers here, just that we cannot avoid this so human part of our full life…when the pink (heart) flash truly hits, you feel like you are in a free fall…its power in life is among the greatest gifts.

Flash Three. The White Flash. Whatever a person’s faith, there are moments when each of us seems to be spoken to directly or given a clear signal by the Creator. I call these “white moments”. Time stands still. There is no worldly explanation. Logic is defied. But an answer is given. A gift seems to be delivered. A messenger shows up. Something unexplainable occurs. Some people spend more time with this, actively pursuing the Creator’ guidance. Others deny the Creator, yet admit that they see answers that they cannot trace to a source. Can we pursue answers actively? Can we learn to invoke these powers? A full life seems to include the awareness that we are searching and that this search gets richer and richer as we grow….in the life-long pursuit of happiness, it is hard to avoid some moments that are unexplainable and seem too unreal to be true….

Last flash. The Big Blue Flash! This is the moment when one sees one’s life purpose. Laying out in front of your feet just like a pathway. Some see it as a picture. Not everyone has this one. Those lucky ones who do describe the moment with excitement. It always takes place with some other loved one present, always takes place in a peaceful place, and people describe that their themes of life come together in a single concept or idea. It can be a company, a career goal, an idea of a central project for one’s life….why we seem to justify our existence, education. It seems to occur at mid life, rarely early. People seem to need some pain and confusion and wandering before it is achieved. BUT, those who find it and follow it are the happiest on earth. They seem also to be the bravest, the toughest, and most willing to help others find it. It becomes a passionate pursuit of happiness at the highest level.

With all of these, can we teach them or learn them any faster than what life gives us at its normal pace. Can we get to it faster? My life has taught me there is a natural clock, the Creator’s clock, the Greeks called “chiros” (God’s time), not “chronos”(Man’s time). I had to feel the pain of the search before I saw my own “blue flash”. I still look for the green flash now with more passion after I saw the first one in Hawaii. I still seek, though shyly, my Creator’s hand in my life….I know it is there, just sometimes it is so hard to see. I still feel the pink flash and it is one of life’s biggest mysteries especially when it hits from a 90 degree angle and is unexpected.

My blue flash was the idea of creating CIBU almost 20 years ago. It still is alive, and the sky is blue, more so than ever, I am convinced this is one of everybody’s biggest challenges in this world now and in the future. If you can put a life together and put something down here on the planet that did not exist before you….it can be a company, a great product or service, art, music, or a worthwhile pursuit of happiness that is your legacy….if….
There could be no greater joy for me than to hope that CIBU is a place and time in people’s lives where these great flashes may occur…and that we teach our students to look for these flashes even if they have not seen them yet, because, I will guarantee……they are out there waiting to happen….when you are ready to find them….