Life is and is you. Life exists everywhere. Nature lives. Beings are alive. Stop now for a few moments and think of at least 10 things or situations that happened today that made you feel alive, that made you feel the presence of life.
If you, like many of us, realize that there are few times when we truly appreciate what it means to be alive. Few times when we remember that we are alive. That we sigh, for a moment, recognizing how brief this breath that passes through us is. If you realize this and want to change this reality, repeat this exercise daily and give thanks for every situation that comes to mind and your senses.
Often, we spend our time busy, carrying the bitterness of a past that no longer exists or longing for a future that has not yet arrived. Often, when facing difficulties, we exclaim: "What can you do, that's life, there's no way around it"—as if life were something outside of us, something to be endured, not lived, something rigid and not in constant transformation.
If we come to recognize the life that we are, and be grateful for being filled with it, we will begin to respect all forms of life. Including among humans: just because we don't share the same religion or language, we will stop believing that one way of existing is worth more than another.
How many of us spend our lives seeking power, wealth, knowledge… But what about life? Who seeks life? Human beings chase after money because, instinctively, they feel it represents possibilities. But they confused the symbol with the source. Gold, coming from the sun, once a symbol of life, became the target itself. As if it were gold that granted everything. And so, forgetting the source—life—they began to fear losing the symbol—money—more than fearing losing themselves.
There is an inner Power that knows beyond what we can comprehend. We are greater than our thoughts. Sometimes, the Earth itself allows us to glimpse this. To live and to love are signs of that which has no end. Love is a glory of the spheres of eternity.
But why seek life? Aren't we already alive? Yes, we are. But it's possible to think of life as a watercourse. The source and the mouth are water, but there's a big difference between clean water and polluted water.
Both are life, but only one is life-giving. The other, unhealthy, can bring disease and even death.
Life is made of transformations, of constant passages from one being to another. Each one feeds on the life of others and, in return, also gives their own. There is no isolated life.
Being present and grateful are perhaps the first steps to knowing oneself to be alive.
