To Live Alive

Varkala, Kerala, India

To live alive 

One of the greatest afflictions of humankind is to live life dead. Yet so many of us fall victim to it.

Routine can create great comfort and a sturdy foundation for growth, but too much of it will numb our senses. The shadow, or repressed opposite of predictability is the absence of awe and surprise – the very things that make life come alive. 

Doing the same things over and over can get woven into automatic memory. If we don’t pay  attention, our movements become rote and mechanical. Life becomes lived in a daze. Colors lose vibrancy. Tunnel vision narrows the horizon. 

When life becomes too safe and too known, we unconsciously interact with it, and our senses deaden.

Maybe it’s monotony, or perhaps it's too much activation. Too much stress leaves us anxious for what comes next, robbing us of the present. We can’t settle into a moment long enough to fully savor it.

Or, any harrowing experience will lead us to shut off the feeling valve. Too much overwhelms the system and we create a cushion between ourselves and life, only able to feel a fraction of what’s happening. While we smartly create distance between ourselves and the pain of grief, this often transfers to the feelings we desire to feel.

Or, maybe we haven’t learned to move out of a state of great depression. It clings onto us and we cannot shake it. When all we can see is death and all we can feel is pain, we forget that there is good that exists in the world, still.   

No matter the reason, life is meant to be lived. It is our sole responsibility to find what makes us feel alive and to devote some of our time to living those things.