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What gets you out of bed each day? What sparks your curiosity? What quickens your spirit? What excites you to move toward it? What is it that makes you smile and happy to be alive? What turns your energy center on? What calms your energy center down?
When it comes to the things that light you up, or align with your heart, it’s different for us all. Some like a slow dance, some like a tango, yet for others, it’s a dance of a different kind.
No matter what it might be, knowing what it is, and having more of it in your life, is vital to the feeling of ‘aliveness’. And it’s that ‘aliveness’ that makes life worth living.
Maybe it’s as simple as the feeling of the sun on your skin in the morning. Maybe it’s the stars at night. Maybe it’s holding your new-born. Maybe it’s being at your grown kid’s wedding. Maybe it’s the perfect coffee on a Sunday. Maybe it’s jumping off a cliff. Maybe it’s Netflix and chill. Maybe it’s seeing someone else’s face light up when you give them some encouragement. It could be any one of a thousand different things, big and small.
It doesn’t really matter what it is, as long as you know, and as long as it’s active in your life.
Yes, we are human beings and not human doings. Yes, we need to work, pay rent, wash clothes, do mundane stuff. That’s life. But here’s the thing. You don’t need to be getting lit 24/7 either. You just need enough of it in your life to create the spark. Creating enough lit moments is what it’s all about. And you can create those moments as you choose, day or night.
We are creatures of meaning and purpose. Most of us don’t just sit and meditate all day, nothing wrong with that if you do by the way. But it’s what we do that lights us up, that gives life to our being.
The way of the awakened man (or woman) is a way of life. It is self-awareness and it is a conscious choice moment by moment to show up. It does not mean you don’t ever feel pain, sadness or frustration. But you deal with it. It does not mean that you are perfection personified and never make a mistake. But you learn from them. It means that you live life, as fully aware as possible, of your own beingness.
So, what lights you up?
I have a friend who asks a slightly different question. He says, “what fills your buckets”. Same question. If you don’t know what lights you up or if you don’t know what fills your bucket, how are you going to know what brings you that deep sense of joy? And if you don’t know that, it’s a crapshoot. You might stumble on it or you might not. You roll the dice and hope for doubles.
Life can be a gamble yes. There are risks for sure. We don’t control everything, nor do we need to. But I do believe we need to have at least a bit of an idea about what we like and what we don’t.
You create your own experience because everything you think and feel comes from within. What lights you up, is what gives your life a sense of meaning, purpose, and fulfillment, from the inside out.
I love the lyric of a band called Hollow Coves. The song is called Moments:
‘Cause time won’t wait for us
It fades away so fast
And soon these days will pass
So make these moments last’
Matthew McConaughey in his book Greenlights says it this way: ‘The arrival is inevitable: Death. A unanimous end, a unified destination. A noun written without regard. Our eulogy. Written. Lived. The approach is relative: Life. A singular procession, our personal journey. A verb with regard. Our resume. Write it. Live it.
And one of my favorites, the famous shadow worker Carl Jung says, ‘the creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect, but by the play instinct, acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves.
My message to you is this, as it is my message to myself also. Find what lights you up. Stay with it. Practice it, a little each day. Move toward it. Experience it. Surround yourself with people who will encourage it. And most of all, know that when you are lit, you are fully alive!
You are a city of lights. You are a magnificent creation of awe and wonder. Go play. Get lit!
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Photo: Shutterstock
