“Life becomes more meaningful when you realise the simple fact that you'll never get the same moment twice.”
We know this to be true, yet fail to remember it.
Happy Sunday!
And welcome to today's edition of “Conscious living with Purnima”. With today's post I would like you to:
A. Reflect on your attitude towards life
B. Respond by writing back, commenting or just pondering over the message, your choice
C. Act on charting a course forward that has you consciously experiencing the joys of being alive
Waking Up to Life
On keeping our sense of wonder alive
Recently, one of my friends came visiting me and we got chatting about life & stuff. When I asked her, how was life, she said, "well, it's going on."
The same day I was talking to my Dad over the phone & asked him about news from his side. He said, "well, life's going on".
It struck me odd that my 75 year old Dad & 40 something friend shared the same sentiments about life.
I couldn't help but wonder, what my own response to that question would be. Perhaps I too would say, "well, it's going on".
I realised with a jolt how easy it is for us to lose awareness of the preciousness of life. To get caught up with everyday survival. So much so, that we stop seeing life as a gift.
I realised, I needed to actively practice paying attention so I don't fall into the trap of living on autopilot. I want to be able to say, life is wonderful (despite my everyday struggles), and remain open to experiencing joy that isn't contingent on material achievements.
That same night I created a small little book and titled it, "My little book of wonder" (an addition to my overgrowing pile of journals). I decided I will spend a few minutes each day penning down anything that amazed me or evoked in me a sense of wonder. Perhaps I might have a few blanks but I am certain the very act of showing up for this practice will turn on my consciousness to pay attention to what life brings my way.
Today, I invite you to reflect on how you would answer that question - how is life?
And as a new week starts tomorrow, I encourage you to start paying attention to your habitual responses - In your preoccupation with accomplishing daily activities and goals, do you remember to notice the beauty around you? Do you see & savor the things that make being alive wonderful?
And if not, what are you willing to do to not lose that sense of wonder?
I will see you next week with something else to reflect, respond and act on. Until then take good care of yourself, pursue courageously the things that you feel will make you happy and trust the timing of the Universe.
Leaving you with a poem by Mary Oliver to relish. It's one of my favourite :)
“Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean -
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down -
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?”
- Mary Oliver
Waking up to life
The fact: Everybody love their life, but, not sure how to express, in as many words. The very word of life is going on, is itself, an acknowledgement of it.