As Alive As I Can Be

A dear friend said to me the other day…There’s a lot of pain around right now. She was referring to people close to her who are in challenging physical situations…people who are not able to live freely and fully in a healthy body and/or mind. It is a frustrating time, to seemingly not be who you used to be and not be able to do what you used to do. Maybe the physical ailment has to do with aging, an accident, a terminal diagnosis, a progressive chronic condition or rehabilitation. In any case, life is not as it used to be. There can be a lot of pain around…physical, mental and emotional. I am sure you have either experienced this personally or observed it in those closest to you. With resignation we lament…Life is just not the way it used to be!

Of course it’s not! Life is not stagnant…it is fluid. Life is always changing. So how in this ever-changing life can we be okay with the pain of our physical imperfection and impermanence?

Here is something to consider…we can choose to focus on what we are no longer able to do or be…or we can simply and powerfully recognize where we are, breathe into the present and choose to be as alive as we can be. There is something that happens when we choose to be as alive as we can be, right where we are. We put ourself in the driver’s seat by choosing and that is a powerful thing! ‘You know what’, we can say to ourself, ‘I am going to be as alive as I can be right where I am, right now’. And then do that…be as alive as you can be and know that it is enough.

Bringing ourself to the present moment…not in the past and not in the future…allows us to release worry, regret, all of the what ifs and the why. By breathing into the now, we can feel our aliveness in the moment and know that we are enough.

There still may be a lot of pain around, but we can be with it in a more powerful way…knowing we are enough.

Love always

Paula