Let Aliveness Lead
Over the last couple of months, I have been having many conversations about the idea of using what I call ‘a felt sense of aliveness’ to guide my choices, direction, and actions.
In this tumultuous time filled with sorrow, devastation, conflict, division and uncertainty I find it can be easy to lose direction and feel swallowed by what appears to be insurmountable. It can feel like a kind of death grip on my motivation, clarity, and inspiration.
When I begin to feel myself becoming swallowed by the anxiety, rage, grief, and utter confusion, I know I’ve strayed from my sense of Aliveness.
Aliveness is the innate and intuitive intelligence that guides all life and is found in my body. It is always available to be (re)discovered and tapped into.
This felt sense of Aliveness is the same force that inspires plants to grow toward the sun or salmon to begin the spontaneous return to their home stream for spawning.
It is a Universal Intelligence that inspires the necessary choices and actions to propel more life into the future. And it stretches far beyond the individual.
So on a practical level, here is what Aliveness feels like as a guiding force in my life:
Aliveness is what calls, tugs, pulls, and pushes me toward life giving choices and actions.
Aliveness can feel like a spark, curiosity, intrigue, interest, or mystery.
Aliveness opens my chest and softens the shoulders.
Aliveness is undeniable even when it is laced with fear or uncertainty. It is a gut knowing that becomes more than I can ignore.
Aliveness brings joy, insight, inspiration, creativity and hope.
Aliveness holds determination where resignation may have lived before.
Even if it is only a flicker or a glimmer, it is showing me the way by communicating through my body, heart, and gut.
Over time, I have learned the language of Aliveness and how to listen more closely to its call.
Each moment of Aliveness I embrace is like a bread crumb leading me on an incomprehensible journey deeper into the exquisite mystery that is being alive in this human body.
Aliveness is the thread that leads us to our unique contribution in Life.
Note of caution though, I think we are culturally predisposed to thinking of something like Aliveness as being in a state that is “up”, “elevated”, and/or “energized”, and it surely can be that at times. But we never have to look further than the patterns in nature to see the whole spectrum Aliveness spans.
It also holds rest, release, letting go, shedding and dying just as much as growing, blossoming, pollinating, fruiting and harvesting.
So, Aliveness may be asking us to take a nap, slow down, say no, or end a commitment just as much as it may be inspiring curiosity, revealing a new opportunity, and creating life giving meaning in our lives.
If life begets life, our best course of action through the storm might just be following the next impulse that brings us a feeling of Aliveness.
Maybe it’s grabbing a glass of water, taking a walk, making that call, beginning the research, or laying down for a nap.
Ultimately, that’s only for you to decide.
Listen in and let Aliveness lead.
