Why are we here? A question that is pondered often.
Why is such a vague word that the question can mean many things:
What is the meaning of life?
What is our purpose?
Even Mary Oliver’s classic, “What am I going to do with this one precious life?”
Simon Sinek’s famous Ted talk Start with the Why brings the question into business word and has over 32 million views.
As one of the great philosophical questions in human history, Why are we here? gets a lot of bandwidth.
I have recently realized that for me there is a more basic, grounding and practical realization:
That I am here.
I had the sensation at a drum circle Friday night that I suddenly remembered who I was. One minute I was sitting there hitting my drum, and the seeing my old tai chi teacher and reading some motivational quotes on the wall shifted something. I remembered that I had studied tai chi. Then I remembered that I had done many of these types of things before. Then I remembered that I love spaces like this. I got emotional as all this was washing over me. The term “remember who you are” kept repeating in my mind. It felt wonderful.
A few days later I was sitting with a client and the young man told me he had recently started a new practice. He had started sitting for 15 minutes and looking at himself in the mirror. It hit me again. Brilliant. In a way he had invented a practice for himself that reminded him THAT HE WAS THERE.
I am starting this practice today.
—Photo Credit: Flickr/Michael Dolan