--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: What happened then was that, for an…" description: "\"“What happened then was that, for an instant, almost nothing happened. He wasn't even there. Failure didn't even cross his mind. It felt like a sort of..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7b7/colum-mccann-902_failure_what-happened-then-was-that-for-an-insta_2214074.png" --- # What happened then was that, for an instant, almost… ![“What happened then was that, for an instant, almost nothing happened. He wasn't even there. Failure didn't even cross his mind. It felt like a sort of floating. He could have been in the meadow. His body loosened and took on the shape of the wind. The play of the shoulder could instruct the ankle…” quote by Colum McCann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7b7/colum-mccann-902_failure_what-happened-then-was-that-for-an-insta_2214074.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7b7/colum-mccann-902_failure_what-happened-then-was-that-for-an-insta_2214074.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7b7/colum-mccann-902_failure_what-happened-then-was-that-for-an-insta_2214074.png) > ““What happened then was that, for an instant, almost nothing happened. He wasn't even there. Failure didn't even cross his mind. It felt like a sort of floating. He could have been in the meadow. His body loosened and took on the shape of the wind. The play of the shoulder could instruct the ankle. His throat could soothe his heel and moisten the ligaments at his ankle. A touch of the tongue against the teeth could relax the thigh. His elbow could brother his knee. If he tightened his neck he could feel it correcting in his hip. At his center he never moved. He thought of his stomach as a bowl of water. If he got it wrong, the bowl would right itself. He felt for the curve of the cable with the arch and then sole of his foot. A second step and a third. He went out beyond the first guy lines, all of him in synch. Within seconds he was pureness moving, and he could do anything he liked. He was inside and outside his body at the same time, indulging in what it meant to belong to the air, no future, no past, and this gave him the offhand vaunt to his walk. He was carrying his life from one side to the other. On the lookout for the moment when he wasn't even aware of his breath. The core reason for it all was beauty. Walking was a divine delight. Everything was rewritten when he was up in the air. New things were possible with the human form. It went beyond equilibrium. He felt for a moment uncreated. Another kind of awake.”” [Colum McCann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colum-mccann/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The passage describes a transcendent state where the body and mind merge with movement, achieving effortless flow, unity, and a sense of boundless possibility through physical expression. **In simple terms:** He reaches a state of pure, effortless movement. Key Takeaway Cultivate flow in activity. Themes movement mindfulness embodiment flow beauty Mood reflective inspired Type philosophical motivational When to use this quote - dance - sports - meditation - creative work Key Concepts psychology embodiment aesthetic experience Questions to Reflect On - When do you feel most in sync with your body? - How can you bring more fluidity to daily tasks? A Different Perspective Maintaining such a state may be fleeting and requires practice. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Equilibrium Felt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/equilibrium-felt-4596661/) [Failure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/failure/) [Felt Moment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/felt-moment-446471/) [Inside and outside](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inside-and-outside/) [Instant Happened](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/instant-happened-3532605/) [Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mind/) [Moment Uncreated](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moment-uncreated-4914358/) [Moved Thought](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moved-thought-316383/) [New things](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/new-things/) [Psychology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychology/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) ## Related quotes > [He felt for a moment uncreated. Another kind of awake.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colum-mccann/he-felt-for-a-moment-uncreated-another-kind-of-awake/) [Colum McCann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colum-mccann/) > [“The core reason for it all was beauty. Walking was a divine delight. Everything was rewritten when he was up in the air. New…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colum-mccann/the-core-reason-for-it-all-was-beauty-walking-was-a-divine-delight/) [Colum McCann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colum-mccann/) > [“It was if we all sensed we'd be gone someday soon in a sudden instant--often it happened in the middle of the night--and didn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-ford/it-was-if-we-all-sensed-we-d-be-gone-someday-soon-in-a-sudden-instant/) [Richard Ford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-ford/) > [He was becoming unstuck, he was sure of that - his bones were no longer wrapped in flesh but in clouds of dust, in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/he-was-becoming-unstuck-he-was-sure-of-that-his-bones-were-no-longer/) [Tom Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-robbins/) > [He had moved from thought to words, and now from words to actions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/he-had-moved-from-thought-to-words-and-now-from-words-to-actions/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [“Have you ever thought of yourself as a great being?Have you ever been deeply moved by a thought that came from inside? One day,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ilchi-lee/have-you-ever-thought-of-yourself-as-a-great-being-have-you-ever-been-2/) [Ilchi Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilchi-lee/) > [“Have you ever thought of yourself as a great being? Have you ever been moved by a thought that came from inside?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ilchi-lee/have-you-ever-thought-of-yourself-as-a-great-being-have-you-ever-been/) [Ilchi Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilchi-lee/) > [When I first moved to L.A., I thought about turning gay. Then I realized none of the guys I was interested in was good…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zach-braff/when-i-first-moved-to-l-a-i-thought-about-turning-gay-then-i-realized/) [Zach Braff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zach-braff/) > [When I first moved to L.A., I thought I would either be a movie star after a year or I would move home and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/esther-povitsky/when-i-first-moved-to-l-a-i-thought-i-would-either-be-a-movie-star/) [Esther Povitsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/esther-povitsky/) > [“It feels like I have started something new, something quite different, and that is this family. I think of it every day, that what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-ove-knausgaard/it-feels-like-i-have-started-something-new-something-quite-different/) [Karl Ove Knausgaard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-ove-knausgaard/) > [And so when I moved to IBM, I moved because I thought I could apply technology. I didn't actually have to do my engineer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ginni-rometty/and-so-when-i-moved-to-ibm-i-moved-because-i-thought-i-could-apply/) [Ginni Rometty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ginni-rometty/) > [I always felt that at the moment I was born, God must have blinked. He missed the occasion and never knew I had arrived.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/regina-brett/i-always-felt-that-at-the-moment-i-was-born-god-must-have-blinked-he/) [Regina Brett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/regina-brett/) > [“You feel it too, don’t you?” I don’t have to ask her what she’s talking about. I felt it the moment I grabbed her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-saman/you-feel-it-too-don-t-you-i-don-t-have-to-ask-her-what-she-s-talking/) [J. Saman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-saman/) > [The happiest I've ever felt was that moment I discovered she loved me too.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellie-goulding/the-happiest-i-ve-ever-felt-was-that-moment-i-discovered-she-loved-me/) [Ellie Goulding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellie-goulding/) > [“He felt for the first moment as a man feels when, having suddenly received a violent blow from behind, he turns round, angry and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/he-felt-for-the-first-moment-as-a-man-feels-when-having-suddenly/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) ## More by Colum McCann > [Give life long enough and it will solve all your problems, including the one of being alive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colum-mccann/give-life-long-enough-and-it-will-solve-all-your-problems-including/) [Colum McCann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colum-mccann/) > [“There is something that happens to the mind in moments of terror. Perhaps we figure it's the last we'll ever have and we record…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colum-mccann/there-is-something-that-happens-to-the-mind-in-moments-of-terror/) [Colum McCann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colum-mccann/) > [“The short sharp shock of three thousand mother two hundred mothers. The ones who picked through the supermarket debris for pieces of their dead…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colum-mccann/the-short-sharp-shock-of-three-thousand-mother-two-hundred-mothers/) [Colum McCann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colum-mccann/) > [I'm not so sure that I can teach people how to, you know, write dialogue or create plot or anything like that. But if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colum-mccann/i-m-not-so-sure-that-i-can-teach-people-how-to-you-know-write/) [Colum McCann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colum-mccann/) > [“Once we had filled each other with desire, not remembrance.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colum-mccann/once-we-had-filled-each-other-with-desire-not-remembrance/) [Colum McCann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colum-mccann/) > [“How long ago it was and how strange, but all dead friends come to life again sometimes.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colum-mccann/how-long-ago-it-was-and-how-strange-but-all-dead-friends-come-to-life/) [Colum McCann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colum-mccann/) > [“She would want, instead, to recall him in the air, between layers of cloud. To give him back that ancient dignity.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colum-mccann/she-would-want-instead-to-recall-him-in-the-air-between-layers-of/) [Colum McCann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colum-mccann/) > [Novels are more difficult simply because they are longer and require more juggling, but short stories are closer to perfection, if you can get…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colum-mccann/novels-are-more-difficult-simply-because-they-are-longer-and-require/) [Colum McCann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colum-mccann/) > [It was a silence that heard itself, awful and beautiful.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colum-mccann/it-was-a-silence-that-heard-itself-awful-and-beautiful/) [Colum McCann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colum-mccann/) > [I think one of the biggest political failures, and the biggest social failures, over the past few years has been the failure of empathy;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colum-mccann/i-think-one-of-the-biggest-political-failures-and-the-biggest-social/) [Colum McCann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colum-mccann/) > [“Bits of it floating in the air, he said. "It's like dust. You walk about and don't see it, don't notice it, but it's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colum-mccann/bits-of-it-floating-in-the-air-he-said-it-s-like-dust-you-walk-about/) [Colum McCann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colum-mccann/) > [“He has read whole volumes on the philosophy of nonviolence. How peace had to be understood in all its moral dimensions. The proper coexistence…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colum-mccann/he-has-read-whole-volumes-on-the-philosophy-of-nonviolence-how-peace/) [Colum McCann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colum-mccann/) > [“She’s always thought that one of the beauties of New York is that you can be from anywhere and within moments of landing it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colum-mccann/she-s-always-thought-that-one-of-the-beauties-of-new-york-is-that-you/) [Colum McCann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colum-mccann/) > [I'm of the opinion that the real is imagined and the imagined is quite real. The real is imagined, in the sense that we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colum-mccann/i-m-of-the-opinion-that-the-real-is-imagined-and-the-imagined-is/) [Colum McCann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colum-mccann/) > [“She had that emigrant’s sadness—she would never go back to her old country—it was gone in more senses than one—but she was forever gazing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colum-mccann/she-had-that-emigrant-s-sadness-she-would-never-go-back-to-her-old/) [Colum McCann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colum-mccann/) [Explore all 333 Colum McCann quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colum-mccann/) ## More Failure quotes > [When you do things they're absolutely right at that time for you and it can always teach you something about yourself. You can take…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kym-marsh/when-you-do-things-they-re-absolutely-right-at-that-time-for-you-and/) [Kym Marsh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kym-marsh/) > [Failures happen. You can't cry over them. You just take it in your stride because you know that you have done your best... Sometimes,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/divya-dutta/failures-happen-you-can-t-cry-over-them-you-just-take-it-in-your/) [Divya Dutta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/divya-dutta/) > [No one is completely unhappy at the failure of his best friend.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/groucho-marx/no-one-is-completely-unhappy-at-the-failure-of-his-best-friend/) [Groucho Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/groucho-marx/) > [“Rhiannon's Law #28: If you're going to fuck up, be sure to fuck up good and proper. Nothing makes failure acceptable, so you might…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/rhiannon-s-law-28-if-you-re-going-to-fuck-up-be-sure-to-fuck-up-good/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Failure is a part of life and you have to learn to deal with it. Failure is something that is part of life's cycle…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-powell/failure-is-a-part-of-life-and-you-have-to-learn-to-deal-with-it/) [Colin Powell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-powell/) > [If my child had prejudice in his head, I'd be ashamed. I would see it as my failure as a parent.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/if-my-child-had-prejudice-in-his-head-i-d-be-ashamed-i-would-see-it/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [First action was a mistake. What about the second? third? fourth and fifth?...Mehn you are bad...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/first-action-was-a-mistake-what-about-the-second-third-fourth-and/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [God's love never fail :)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/god-s-love-never-fail/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Don’t you just hate nights like that, when you think over every mistake you’ve made, every hurt you’ve received, every bit of meanness you’ve…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlaine-harris/don-t-you-just-hate-nights-like-that-when-you-think-over-every/) [Charlaine Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlaine-harris/) > [“Our failure to understand another being's inner reality doesn't make that reality any less real, or any less valuable to that being. (p.255)”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathryn-schulz/our-failure-to-understand-another-being-s-inner-reality-doesn-t-make/) [Kathryn Schulz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathryn-schulz/) > [I hope that the Palestinians don't make the mistake of unleashing a new intifada. They've tried it twice before, and the consequences were bad…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-segev/i-hope-that-the-palestinians-don-t-make-the-mistake-of-unleashing-a/) [Tom Segev](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-segev/) > [Don't take too much comfort in the fact that you're successful today because tomorrow could bring failure. There's no surety in life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-savage/don-t-take-too-much-comfort-in-the-fact-that-you-re-successful-today/) [Michael Savage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-savage/) > [“It took me years to learn to sit at my desk for more than two minutes at a time, to put up with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/it-took-me-years-to-learn-to-sit-at-my-desk-for-more-than-two-minutes/) [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) > [failure in the theater is more public, more brilliant, more unreal than in any other field.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lillian-hellman/failure-in-the-theater-is-more-public-more-brilliant-more-unreal-than/) [Lillian Hellman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lillian-hellman/) > [As we are coming to the end of the year, I want you to forget about the past, the failure, the negative thoughts or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/as-we-are-coming-to-the-end-of-the-year-i-want-you-to-forget-about/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) [Browse all 27,498 Failure quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/failure/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“What happened then was that, for an instant, almost nothing happened. He wasn't even there. Failure didn't even cross his mind. It felt like a sort of floating. He could have been in the meadow. His body loosened and took on the shape of the wind. The play of the shoulder could instruct the ankle. His throat could soothe his heel and moisten the ligaments at his ankle. A touch of the tongue against the teeth could relax the thigh. His elbow could brother his knee. If he tightened his neck he could feel it correcting in his hip. At his center he never moved. He thought of his stomach as a bowl of water. If he got it wrong, the bowl would right itself. He felt for the curve of the cable with the arch and then sole of his foot. A second step and a third. He went out beyond the first guy lines, all of him in synch. Within seconds he was pureness moving, and he could do anything he liked. He was inside and outside his body at the same time, indulging in what it meant to belong to the air, no future, no past, and this gave him the offhand vaunt to his walk. He was carrying his life from one side to the other. On the lookout for the moment when he wasn't even aware of his breath. The core reason for it all was beauty. Walking was a divine delight. Everything was rewritten when he was up in the air. New things were possible with the human form. It went beyond equilibrium. He felt for a moment uncreated. 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