Thinking about feeling alive

Today has been a beautiful Spring day. When I left the house this morning, I thought of all the people who would be saying, ‘it’s great to be alive!’ because of the sunshine, the countryside, the birdsong and the fresh, mild air. It’s easy to feel like that on such a day.

In this very short post I want to make just one point. It’s always great to be alive. We don’t need to have a ‘because.’ It’s common to look at a sunset, watch children playing, languish at the seaside or celebrate a happy event and say, ‘how wonderful, isn’t it good to be alive?’ But I’d like to invite you to try something right now.

Sit still, become present. Allow your awareness to settle in your whole body – not just your head – from the soles of your feet, up through your limbs and torso, through your neck and up to the very top of your scalp. This is where you live. Sit and breathe. Be aware of your breath, flowing in and out through your nostrils and filling your lungs. Just know it is happening. Then feel the aliveness in your body. The consciousness, the chemical and electrical reactions, all the tiny movements. Be aware of the mixture of emotions in your body and the thoughts in your head. Be aware of your hands and feet and how they are feeling right now. Feel, really feel, that tingly, vibrant, energetic , alive feeling.

This complex, seething, always moving and always changing organism is you! You are full of life and if you are still enough, present enough, you can feel that life. It’s the same energy that keeps leaves green, allows babies to sleep, wake, cry and grow, produces fields full of crops and fills those fields with rabbits at this time of year. It’s a mysterious miracle. And when you really focus on it, allow yourself to be fully aware of how alive you are, it’s an incredible feeling.

The secret is, we can access this ‘wonderful to be alive’ feeling whenever we want. We don’t need a ‘because.’ We embody the miracle of life and it’s exciting all day, every day.