This just means a very big point in your life such as an epiphany in which everything seemed to make sense. It can also mean any important point in your life which has helped define who you are today.

Nobel Prize-winning author John Galsworthy (1867-1933) called this the “psychological moment”. It’s the moment that best captures the mood or character of the person or group concerned. It could be a situation that changed the person’s life forever, or when the person had to make a choice, or when the person had to react or respond to some danger or threat. Any of these moments would reveal the person’s character, or perhaps they would learn some important truth.

In Galsworthy’s novel, “The Man of Property”, the psychological moment comes in Chapter 1 (“At Home at Old Jolyon’s”), when the upper-middle-class Forsyte family gathers to meet Philip Bosinney, a penniless architect who is engaged to June Forsyte. They feel that he represents a danger or a threat, and they respond by assuming an air of defiance, by being more smug and self-confident than usual. This situation defines them as a family as the story begins.

A defining moment is that split second when something becomes clear to you. It might be the time you got bonked on the head by a soccer ball and decided this wasn’t the sport for you. Or the time the guy down the block that had always seemed such a pest, snuck a valentine into your desk and you realized he really liked you but was just too shy to let you know. Those are exaggerations, but you get the idea……

MY definition of the term “bunny hugger”: A derogatory term used by mindless drones who seem to have a little trouble thinking for themselves. I’m really quite tired of the term, myself. There is one person who started the use of this term here, and it has (quite amusingly) spread like wildfire – just like many of the ideas and opinions in this forum. I’m glad to see a sharing of ideas and knowledge, but the bandwagon crap gets REALLY old for me. My general philosophy is to be as positive as the dog and situation will allow, and I value my dogs for more than just a tool or piece of property. Given the numerous psychology studies that have been done showing the benefits the human species reaps as a result of calming contact and “friendship” with a dog – I feel pretty confident that my relationship with my dogs is in the best interest of all involved. If that makes me a bunny hugger – so be it. Do I think some people go too far by allowing their dog to run wild and by depriving them of the structure they need? Absolutely. There is no question that pet owners must act first out of responsibility, and second out of love (if that’s the kind of relationship they choose to have with their dogs). *I* use corrections because I recognize that a dog needs to know when he’s done something wrong so he can correct it. Everybody has a right to whatever kind of (legal) relationship they wish to have with their dogs. As long as the dog is well cared for, and his basic needs are met, nobody owes anybody an apology for anything… and nobody deserves derogatory remarks.

A defining moment is a point in time where one gains clarity about something that has long eluded them, when one consciously chooses to do something or stop, or when something becomes so obvious as the nose on our face. There is no set course for when we reach these places in our lives. They appear almost “out of the blue”. The funny thing is that when we have these moments we usually say to ourselves, what were we thinking?

Please read the article on this site:

http://www.innerself.com/Testimonials/defining_moment.htm