No matter what kind of life you've lived,
We've all experienced moments where we've fully felt into our own aliveness.
But what does feeling into our own aliveness even mean?
It could be moments of heightened fear,
And then facing that fear head on.
Or moments of immense freedom and ecstasy.
Those moments where you struggle to find the words to explain and experience.
I don't know about you,
But did anyone else run to the bathroom at recess in middle school to pierce your own ears with the nearest sharp object you could find?
You know who you are.
As poet Ocean Bong states in his book On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous,
Tell me it was for the hunger and nothing less.
For hunger is to give the body what it knows it cannot keep.
Some believe that in our Western culture,
It is the lack of formal rites of passage that leave us hungry,
Seeking any opportunities for affirmation that in fact we are alive.
Sure,
We have birthdays,
Graduations,
Weddings.
But from the perspective of death culture,
Ours is one void of anything that purposefully puts us face to face with life,
Death,
And the mysteries inherent in both phases of being.
So for the next few moments,
Think about the many ways that you relate to your own aliveness without any judgment as to why these thoughts are coming to mind in this moment.
What actions of impulse have you played with to give you the feeling,
A reminder that you are here?
Or rather,
Are there any simple,
Practical reminders of your own aliveness,
Like having the ability to choose the food you want to eat today or how you dress yourself in the morning?
Maybe it's in that time you stayed up all night until the sun came up for no reason at all,
Or the moment where picking a fight with someone felt better than letting them walk out the door.
With all of that in mind,
Does considering your own death make you think any differently about your own aliveness?
And here's where I'll leave you,
Contemplating and hopefully rejoicing in your own aliveness.
Because right now,
Listening to this contemplation,
You are here and in every sense of the word,
Free but alive.
