Aliveness
What Does It Mean to Be Alive?
Not “to survive.”
Not “to function.”
Not “to keep going.”
But to be alive.
It’s a question that slips past the medical charts and the calendars. It doesn’t ask how many breaths you’ve taken. It asks whether you’ve felt them.
To be alive is not just to exist.
It’s to respond.
To notice.
To choose.
It’s the difference between a body and a presence. Between a schedule and a soul.
Aliveness is not performance.
You don’t have to be busy, productive, or impressive to be alive. You don’t have to be cheerful or strong or “doing great.”
You just have to be here.
With your senses open.
With your heart engaged.
With your mind not numbed by habit or fear.
Aliveness is not constant.
We drift in and out of it.
We lose it in the rush.
We find it in the quiet.
We forget.
We remember.
Sometimes we feel most alive in grief.
Sometimes in laughter.
Sometimes in the moment we stop pretending.
Aliveness is a practice.
It’s in the way you greet the morning.
The way you touch the cat’s fur.
The way you listen to someone without interrupting.
The way you let yourself be changed by beauty, or truth, or love.
It’s in the way you say:
“I’m still here.”
“I still care.”
“I still want to know what this moment holds.”
To be alive is to be porous.
To let the world in.
To let yourself out.
To be affected.
To be moved.
To be willing to feel — even when it’s inconvenient.
To be alive is to be in relationship.
With your body.
With your breath.
With others.
With the earth.
With the mystery.
It’s not a checklist.
It’s a pulse.
So if you’re wondering whether you’re alive today, don’t look at your calendar.
Look at your attention.
Look at your tenderness.
Look at your willingness to be changed.
You’re alive when you’re not just passing through the day —
but letting the day pass through you.
post inspired by Weekly Soul (Craigie)
Book description:
Weekly Soul is a collection of 52 meditations on meaningful, joyful and peaceful living. It has been recognized with national awards, including* Foreword INDIES Book of the Year 2020 Gold Medal winner
* Winner, 2022 National Indie Excellence Awards
* Silver medal, Reader Views Literary Awards
* NABE Pinnacle Book Achievement Award Winner, Winter 2023
* Honorable Mention, Kops-Fetherling International Book Awards
* Finalist, 2020 American Book Fest
The meditations begin with thought-provoking quotations from a range of people--writers, journalists, theologians, musicians and artists, activists--and touch on themes of Miracles, Aliveness, Purpose, Laughter and Joy, Presence/Mindfulness, Activism, Acceptance, Gratitude, Forgiveness, Creativity, Civility, and Hope. Each meditation also offers Dr. Craigie's stories and commentary, questions for individual and group reflection, suggestions for daily follow-up, and biographical background on the quotation authors. In Weekly Soul, readers will find a year's worth of affirmation and engaging exploration of wholeness and well-being.:
For more posts by and about Fred and his book, click HERE.
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