We so often feel we have to be doing something. We feel we have to be spending money, socializing, having fun, shopping, eating etc. We forgot what it means to be human. We no longer know how to just exist. Many people look at boredom with disgust. We don't feel like we had a good day unless we ‘did something’. What does it even mean to do something? Why are we doing it? Because it makes us happy or because we feel like it will make us happy? If it truly made us happy why do we move onto the next thing immediately after the first. Why are we constantly on the search? What are we looking for?
We have lost the art of existence. We forgot how to just exist in our bodies and sit in the world. We lack the ability to just be. Why? Many of us fear what we will find. Will we discover we are a horrible person, will we see ourselves raw and true, will we regret things we've done? What lies behind the search? What is the raw human experience of existence and how do we get it back?
We live in a world that is doing nothing but speeding up, we have to get the courage to slow down. We have to look at all of the things that entice us and ask ourselves why? We have to become conscious human beings again. We have to grab hold of our lives. The good thing is there isn't one right way to do it. We all have to slow down but what that looks like that can be different for everyone. It can be mediation, ritual, self care, even just slowing down normal tasks. We can slowly become conscious again. We can feel life touch our hearts. We can grow to remember what it means to exist, what it means to be human. Don’t you miss it? Can’t you taste it? Even just a little bit. Its not some made up magical land, its a place that already existence inside of you and you've visited it before. Maybe not in awhile but you know its there.
Why do we do what we do? You might be surprised what you find when you ask yourself this. You might find fear, sadness, or grief. None of these are bad, its just what is. Welcome in all of your experience. Existence is an art because it looks different for everyone, some is more chaotic, some it more peaceful but its all accepted. The good the bad and the ugly. We limit our ability to be fully conscious when we start repressing our emotions. We forget what being human feels like. We are disillusioned to think its just joy. We forget that being human is also full of grief, its sometimes sad and its definitely sometimes scary. We reject such a large part of being human. Of course we forgot what it means to be human, we cut out so much of the experience by deeming it bad and unworthy of attention. When you realize that grief and fear are as important as joy you can begin to fully awaken to the raw nature of being a human. We must accept in all that we have deemed bad, accept it with open loving arms. There is nothing to be ashamed of. You are nothing to be ashamed of. You are just a human. Its time to come home.
We spend about 26 years of our life sleeping, 4 years of our life commuting, 11 years working, 12 years scrolling on our phone and nearly a year doing chores. If you live until 100 (which is less than a 1% chance), all of those things take up more than 50% of your life! We see life and feel as if we have so much time but we truly don't. We truly don’t have much time at all to just exist. We only have so much time to truly live life. How are you going to spend that precious time? In search of the next "thing" or truly experience life?