"There are moments in life when we are knocked off our usual balance, our normalcy, and from that vantage point we can view life in general, and our own lives in particular, at a different levelThis is a simple story about one person’s decision to draw out the best from a difficult experience and to use a dramatic break in the regular routine of life as a learning experience about elevating one’s life. The story is based upon a surgical experience and a thinker’s response to it. The approach also would apply to other experiences like losses of jobs, deaths of loved ones, burning down of houses, spousal affairs, children’s serious illnesses, economic setbacks and any other fracture of the usual activities of life;