Do You Feel Alive?

We often get so frazzled by the haste of modern life that we forget the simple joy and beauty found in stopping to smell the flowers. This could mean either literally stopping to make contact with nature—even if it does trigger a sneeze or two—or doing so in a way that involves you truly appreciating the things you have around you.

It's easy to forget that we are tied so closely to the earth and to nature and tied so closely to eachother. We feed on and project energy with only our presence. This is how we can tell without talking to people that they're sad, or frustrated or happy, or confident. The vibes we get and send to eachother either deliberately or unknowingly. And this form of communication is a sort of catalyst for being a loving person or a bitter one, or whatever it may be.

People live all kinds of different lives, and in these lives we have our own stress and responsibilities and things we must do. It's easy to got lost in the machine of a life built on routine and time, whether that's because you're running late for work or running late to drop the kids off, or your late for an appointment. The distraction of the obligation often makes you blind to the things around you that are good.

The subtle happiness found at the sight of a meal made to share with family, or your bed after a long day and nice shower, your mother's face after a time spent apart, a stranger's smile when they can tell that you need it. These are the way we live and give life to others. But there are many reasons why people are unable or unwilling to give or love. Racism, prejudice, lack of confidence, hatefulness they've experienced, abuse, neglect, loneliness, greed, superiority complexes, and countless others.

We are afraid of many things, and this fear is our biggest motivation for straying away from the way we function inherently. We fear illness and age because we fear our own mortality. We fear our lives will lack meaning. We fear we aren't living the lives we want to and time just keeps going. We fear our hard work won't pay off. We fear we won't get ahead unless we're better than other people. We fear failure.

It's true that we have functions that will inevitably lead us to our demise. We will all die one day. We have a limited time to share our unique thoughts and ideas and a limited time to love and be loved. We can improve the human condition. Each person is capable of making such exponential change in people's lives and they don't always realize it. Mother's are the greatest teachers we have in life. They teach us things with and without trying. They care and want for us to be happy. This is for the most part, anyways. For those of us lucky enough to have that. But we can all be leaders and givers and caretakers, like mothers should be.

These things are what the art of life is made of, the impact you have on the world, and especially the people closest to you is a reflection of the things that you value. You have to be the things you most want to see exist in the world. Create the example, be the role model you needed, be the change we all need.

We don't often realize how important the small bits of joy throughout our busy lives add to the meaning we find in our lives. To genuinely give love freely adds to us instead of emptying us. We are spreading love and happiness whereby adding meaning to the lives of everyone we encounter.

To be alive is to be constantly learning and growing, and the only way we can do that is if we value ourselves, our time, energy, and ideas enough to share them with other people and to care about ourselves and other people. This is how you give life meaning, you give love freely, you accept knowledge freely, and you give your time and energy to things you know are right.