With the multitude of challenges in the world, many Americans wonder how they can keep a positive attitude. Many wonder if our country will survive what our U.S. Congress continues to rain down on our society. Others wonder if we can survive multiculturalism, immigration and national debt. Will our environment sustain us? Each of us faces real challenges that seem daunting, impossible and depressing.
While I write about the sobering realities we face, my friends ask how I keep my daily life upbeat and positive. Where do I find all my enthusiasm for living? This past Sunday, my preacher gave a wondrous sermon: the theme was "Rise up and Live," to coincide with Easter. That's what the resurrection offers. That's what springtime offers with the first crocus popping out of the soil. It's the longer days that present opening opportunities--with the birth of a child or the hatching of a nest of baby robins. All life renews in the spring.
Inspired by that renewal, this commentary offers you an individual choice to enjoy the "voluptuousness of living." I share it with you as another invocation to "Rise up and Live."
You
face multiple challenges in your life. Thank goodness for that
opportunity. Utopian worlds only exist in novels by the likes of Aldous
Huxley in Brave New World. If you recall that brilliant story, a
couple enjoyed unlimited sexual, physical and emotional perfection. They worked jobs keyed to their intellectual inclinations. Did they love
it? As time wore on, no, they didn't enjoy their lives. Instead,
they escaped from the "bubble city of perfection" by running off into the
wilderness. They wanted to "feel" their lives and explore their limits. They
chose to search for their food, their shelter and their well-being by staying
connected to the natural world.
The same applies today in our mechanized world of concrete and glass. But, as long as you live in America, you can do something with your life. To be alive--that's the first miracle and mystery. Next, you may choose to adapt, grow and renew yourself during your entire stay on this planet.
True, you may travel far or you may travel deep. You may travel in either dimension--in your body or in your mind. In either case, you'll sometimes find that you did not know what you were looking for in your quest. That's the true sack of gold that awaits you, the far-traveler.
You possess such power within you. Make it known to your friends in your enthusiasm for life. Search for a deeper well in your existence and drink beyond the confusion. That deeper well, is simply your inner spirit--which commonly endures noise, computer din, meaningless work, TV, and the fog of your own necessity to survive in this high-speed world.
But you can access that well of expression by your letters, not by lamplight but by keyboard and computer screen. You can pursue a craft--painting, macramà ©, fly-making, or anything creative--that you can share with others.
Your
ongoing message passionately expresses the "voluptuousness of living." However, it requires that you NOT be so comfortable, that living not become too easy. That
means not going from an air-conditioned house to a climate-controlled car, or to
an office complex where everyone wears the same suits and thinks the same way
as they claw their way up the corporate ladder with accompanying stress and ulcers.
Too much comfort and success kills your spirit. You need to know the challenge of multiple pursuits, because in the opposites come perspectives and appreciation. You can avoid being a spectator. You can live at a vibrating tingle. Like a soaring eagle. Like a leaping gazelle. Like a grizzly grabbing a fish from the river. Like a north wind blowing. The results of your decision to live your own life will become more apparent to you each succeeding year.
Life
sweeps along swiftly enough without spending precious hours and days on
useless routine and inactivity--especially watching television. Whatever
turns you on--chase it with a vengeance. There's no life crisis for men and
women who pursue their passions.
You have seventy-odd years to fulfill your life, and you'll want to fill them with the voluptuousness of living. That particularly! Be aware of pain, of joy, of the potential within yourself. Become excited by every leaf on a tree as it flutters in the wind, or by watching a hawk rip down from the sky to grab a mouse, or by the delight of discovering a lady bug on your shoulder in early spring, or by gazing upon a starlit sky.
It leads you to a kind of rage, too, which is the blood sister of love, because the people of this world make it a charming, insane, exciting and confusing place. You must develop the ability to deal with everyone with your mind and spirit at full bore. To see is to know, and to know is to fall in love with living, breathing, throbbing life. It's out there for you to enjoy as a man or a woman, and as a human being.
Love deeply! Care about your loved ones from family to friends. Send a friend a special note of thanks, or tell that person how grateful you are that he or she is a part of your life. Take your spouse out for a walk to a lake, or along a river or a trail. Tell your kids that they create delight in your world and are very special to you. Tell a cashier how beautiful you find her necklace, or that her earrings make her face radiant. Share your love, and it will come back to you a hundred-fold.
Believe deeply! Believe in yourself. Believe in your friends. Accept that you believe in living a good life and that you will choose a path to it every day. Place positive affirmations on your mirror to remind you about your good fortune, your good health, and your possibilities. When you believe in the positive, you create a positive energy that will manifest in all your work.
Quest boldly! Create a project that turns you on and excites your soul. Quest to train for a triathlon, to learn to play the piano, to write a book, or to create the finest macramà © the world has ever seen. Oh heck! Go out and clean the garage, or pick up the trash along a highway near you. Your spirit offers you unlimited creative "questing," because your thoughts offer you endless possibilities.
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