The Depth of Life

 

Climbing into bed

Stepping out of bed

Petting the cat or dog

Making breakfast, lunch or dinner

Running or exercising

Walking down the street

Texting, emailing, phoning someone

Combing your hair

Washing your face

Putting on your clothes

Taking your clothes off

Showering

Brushing your teeth

Sitting still

Running errands

Sun bathing

Dining with friends

Eating

Working

Having sex

Getting the mail…

All experiences

When we are present

Take us into the depth of life

Moment by moment.

 

Chronically busy, living life at a frenetic pace, most of us are starved for the depth of life.  Doing, doing, doing.  Getting shit done.  Moving from one thing to the next in order to accomplish what is on our list for the day.  We never get to fully experience the moment because we aren’t there.  We are scattered in the past worrying if we did everything that needed to be done or said the right thing or missed a step.  We are spinning in the future anticipating what’s next and how will we ever get it all done, fearing we won’t, doubting if we are capable. 

What a mess our minds can be!  Being everywhere but here in the moments of our life strips the beauty of all the seemingly simple pleasures that make our life so rich and abundant.  Stilling our Self, dropping into a moment completely whether we are petting the cat, brushing our teeth, running, having sex, doing laundry – it matters not – creates a life where everything – everything we get to do, all that we get to experience is magical.   

This crazy train which most of us are comfortable riding because it is what we have done for so long and most we know are on it too, making it seem normal as if there is no other way to live, leaves us craving more, more of life.  We seek more in adventures outside of us, buying new stuff, traveling and so on which is wonderful but not enough. Adventures outside of us can actually create a chain reaction, a landslide of changes that take us into our Self.  But the inner adventure, the depth of experience is how we nourish our Self moment by moment, day in and day out until our last breath.

I had never tasted the depth of life until I was privileged to sit on the death bed with my brother, to care for my mom, and to be with my late-husband, John, following his bypass surgery.  These events forced me to jump off the crazy train that was familiar and I knew how to ride and was proud of how well I rode it feeling invincible as life never touched me.  Living lifetimes within days as I was present in a way I didn’t know was possible, I couldn’t get back on that crazy train.  Not that I don’t have times when I am swept away by chaos because this is a part of the human journey but I can’t stay there.  I just can’t live life on the surface because it famishes me, leaves me empty with a hole that I try to fill with food and other stuff that cannot nourish my soul.

Don’t wait for catastrophic events like cancer, death, and so on to jolt you into the inner journey.  The invitation this day is to invite the depth of life moment by moment as you pet your dog, eat, text, email, talk, wash dishes, climb into bed, have sex, work, walk down the street, sit on the patio, go out with friends, listen to music and experience the extraordinary available right here and now.  Let life feed you and nourish the depths of you!  Pause.  Step into this moment.  Taste the sweetness.  Harvest the bounty.