It is often all too easy to go through life and not really pay attention to the little things, to how truly intricate and complicated every single moment is.

It really is true that every single thing you do can potentially change the course of your life forever. It isn't just the big things like choosing between one school or another, or taking on job over another, but the little seemingly mundane things, too.

Sometimes it is nice to let the mind wander and think about those what-ifs. What if every time I make even the most trivial of decisions, I continue along a distinctly unique path, one among countless other paths ... alternate universes if you will. The Star Trek franchise is full of examples of these alternate universes where sometimes minute changes in the course of events can have dramatic consequences for the future.

The episode that seems to stand out most in my mind is "Parallels" from "Star Trek: The Next Generation." In this episode, Worf finds himself trapped in a cycle of alternate universes where he goes from his routine life to different but largely similar realities, to being married to Counselor Troi. It makes me wonder, is that possible? No, not being sucked into a cycle of alternate universes via a blind chief engineer's VISOR, but alternate universes in general.

Are there other versions of me out there, some with almost identical lives, but others with ones drastically different from my own?

What would my life look like if I hadn't moved to Minnesota when I was 8, or if I decided to go somewhere else for school? How many versions of me have already died?

It simply boggles the mind to think of the possibilities. Not that I dwell on those what-ifs and am concerned about choosing the right path to take, but you have to wonder. In a life with so many different possibilities -- so many different roads to take -- it is fun knowing that maybe, just maybe, there are countless versions of a person like me leading completely different lives.

Brian Meskimen is a columnist for SyFy Portal writing out of Minnesota. He can be reached at bmeskimen@syfyportal.com.

ADDED EXCLUSIVE

By Michael Hinman

When I first saw "Parallels," I was totally intrigued with how the idea of the multi-verse was explored, and not just in a way that would produce Mirror Universe that Star Trek fans were so familiar with.

Sure, this was a concept that has been around for a long time, including the series "Sliders," but what Worf went through was quite interesting.

And while I loved the episode, I have to say that my favorite Trek story involving parallel universes that is not a Mirror Universe is a book written by Peter David called "Q Squared." Those of you familiar with this brilliant author know that he has always tried to build better bridges in canon between the original "Star Trek" and "Star Trek: The Next Generation." In this particular book, we learn (at least in book canon) that Trelane from the original series is actually a Q. He gets angry for whatever reason I can't even remember, and decides to dip into chaos ... and chaos definitely ensues.

Reading that book, I wondered -- just like Brian -- if there were other copies of me, something I even brought up to my mother, who hates science-fiction by the way.

"Mike, if there were more than one of you out there, the entire universe (well, multi-verse there, mom) would collapse."

I'm not sure if that was a compliment or not.

Michael Hinman is the founder and site coordinator for SyFy Portal, writing out of Tampa, Fla. He can be reached at mhinman@syfyportal.com. His contribution to The Trek Within is exclusive to Roddenberry.com. He writes a weekly column at SyFy Portal called SyFriday.