Namaskaram Have you ever noticed that with every choice that you make,
You are either moving in one or two directions?
Not towards success or failure,
Not towards pleasure or pain,
But towards life.
Or toward death.
Now when I say death.
I don't necessarily mean physical death.
I mean contraction.
Disconnection.
Numbness.
The gradual closing of your heart,
Your awareness,
And your participation in life.
And when I say life,
I don't necessarily mean being alive.
I mean vitality,
Presence,
Openness,
A willing to meet this moment as it is.
When I began to see life through this lens,
Something inside me shifted.
I stopped asking,
Do I like this?
Started asking,
Does this bring me more sense of aliveness?
Because every thought,
Every emotion,
Every action,
Every habit carries a direction.
Inner system.
It's either going towards the life or away from it.
Consider something simple.
Imagine someone says something that hurts your feelings and then in that moment you have a choice.
You can replay the story in your mind.
Strengthen your resentment.
You can remain open.
You can not be weak,
Passive.
But stay open,
Stay curious.
Willing to stay connected to reality rather than becoming trapped inside of your reactions and old memory.
One movement leads towards life.
And the other leads toward a kind of inner death.
And this is not something that happens only in dramatic moments.
This is something that happens hundreds of times every single day.
When you wake up in the morning.
When you speak to a stranger.
When you choose whether to move your body or remain stagnant.
When you decide whether to express gratitude or complain.
Whether to create or consume,
Whether to trust or withdraw.
Life is constantly inviting us into participation.
But fear offers us this chance to protect ourselves.
And while protection has its place,
Many people spend way too much time protecting themselves instead of truly living life.
The strange thing is that what most people call safety sometimes becomes a movement away from life.
We avoid discomfort.
We avoid vulnerability.
We avoid uncertainty.
And in doing so we also avoid wonder.
We avoid growth.
We avoid intimacy and we avoid richness of being fully alive.
So to be aligned with life doesn't mean everything feels good.
In fact,
Sometimes life asks us to walk directly into what is uncomfortable,
To have the difficult conversation,
To grieve.
To forgive.
To take the risk.
To begin again.
Life is not always comfortable.
But it always has vibrancy.
It is always moving.
It is always inviting us into a deeper relationship with ourselves and the world around us.
We often think of the sun rising over the horizon.
Every morning it appears again,
Offering warmth,
Light,
And possibility,
Whether we notice it or not,
Whether we welcome it or not.
Life is doing the same thing.
In every moment it is asking,
Will you be open?
Will you participate?
Will you show up fully for this precious opportunity?
That you've been given.
Because ultimately,
Being aligned with life is not a philosophy,
It's a practice.
It's a moment-to-moment choice.
To stay awake instead of falling asleep,
To stay curious instead of becoming cynical,
To stay connected instead of withdrawing.
To choose courage over fear.
Again,
And again,
And again.
And perhaps that's one of the most meaningful questions we can ask ourselves throughout our day.
Is this bringing me closer to life or closer to death?
Not as a judgment on oneself,
Not as a moral rule.
But as a compass,
A simple way to orient ourselves toward greater presence,
Vitality,
And freedom.
To feel our core and to direct it.
Because life is always here,
Always inviting,
Always waiting for our participation.
The question is,
Will we meet it?
Before we finish today,
I'd like to offer you a simple practice.
Nothing to believe in,
Nothing to imagine,
Just an opportunity to experience this for yourself.
Allow your body to settle.
If you're sitting,
Let your spine become naturally upright.
Not rigid,
Not military in any way,
Just allowing an awakeness.
Allow your shoulders to soften,
Your jaw to relax.
And let your hands rest comfortably in your lap.
Now bring your attention to the simple fact that you are breathing.
There's no need to change your breathing.
Just simply notice.
Breathing in.
And out.
Notice that life is already happening.
You don't have to create it.
You don't have to earn it.
Life is already moving through you right now.
Now gently notice your posture.
Notice your mood.
Notice the quality of your energy in this moment.
Without judgment,
Without trying to fix anything,
Simply notice.
And ask yourself in this moment.
Am I open to this moment?
Or am I resisting something?
Again there is no right or wrong answer.
Just be with it for a few moments.
Now for the next few breaths,
Allow yourself to become available to life.
Not tomorrow,
Not next week.
Right now.
Feel the weight of your body.
Feel the contact between your body and the chair or floor.
Feel the movement of your breath and feel the sounds around you.
Allow yourself to fully arrive.
Notice that beneath all the stories,
All the plans,
All the worries,
There is a simple aliveness.
Quiet brilliance.
Of basic goodness to apply to every moment.
And you don't need to manufacture it,
You only need to stop it.
Overlooking that it's there.
This beautiful basic goodness in this life.
For one final moment,
Sit with this question.
What would it look like to move forward?
Toward life today.
Not for the rest of your life,
Not forever,
Just.
.
.
What is one way that you could become a little more open?
A little more present,
A little more courageous.
Take one deeper breath in.
And slowly exhale.
As you continue today.
Let this question.
.
.
Move through you.
Am I moving towards life?
Or away from it.
And notice how everything begins in the world to become much more beautiful.
And that you can lead your life.
Like with a compass because in moments of difficulty and moments of peace and bliss and everything.
We must know where our core is.
We must know where we are generating this energy,
This experience of life,
Our perception,
Our thoughts,
Our emotions,
Everything.
Because when we become more conscious with this,
Our life.
.
.
Blossoms and the world around us becomes more of a manageable playground for us to reach levels of success.
And harmony.
And extraordinary moments.
So may this be a good time for you.
To think about how you would like to be with life.
Whether you want to be moving in every single moment towards it or away from it.
Pranam.
