Late Sunday Ramble: This Business of LIVING!

Oscar Wilde once observed:

"To Live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people just exist..."

Oscar Wilde died almost 120 years ago, but it seems to me that his observation is perhaps more poignant today than it has ever been.

Pink lantana

What IS "Living," Anyway?

I think a lot of people mistake "living" for trying to fill your life with as many people, things and activities as you possibly can. I have never found any of that particularly meaningful, though.

Maybe I'm just old-fashioned, but I'm really more into the quality of life than the quantity of life. When I look around me and see (allegedly well-meaning and serious) quotes like "whoever has the biggest pile of toys, wins!" I can't help but think that we've all become derailed, somewhere.

I feel fully alive when I am sitting at my desk and my cat is asleep in my lap, alternately purring and snoring. I also feel fully alive when I am eating a slice of the Chimacum Café's homemade strawberry-rhubarb pie. Those are examples of living, to me.

We all have our own individual interpretations, of course.

I'm not questioning people's interpretations of being happy and living life, I just find myself pondering the authenticity of some of these interpretations: Are you truly doing "whatever you're doing" because it fills out innner self with a sense of purpose and meaning? Or are your expressions creations conjured up for "public consumption?"

Sunset over the bay

Self-esteem... and Stuff

A psychologist friend of mine was once talking to someone who was very wrapped up in what other people were thinking... and my friend pointed out that we call it SELF-esteem, not "Other-people-esteem."

Maybe that's a bit harsh... but I believe in getting my inner guidance from within, not as a consequence of what other people are thinking.

Either way, those words were central to my becoming more "self-referencing" than "other-referencing" as I grew older... and subsequently enabled me to recognize the difference between "living" and "existing" more readily. Along with that, I also became more aware that "self-confidence" and "self-ESTEEM" aren't necessarily the same thing.

Anyway, this whole ramble was somewhat prompted by the realization that my ongoing process of "re-inventing myself" for the Nth time has a lot to do with the recognition of slipping back into old patterns of feeling like life is not living, but merely existing.

And so, the imminent change is definitely for the better!

Thanks for reading!

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Created at 190513 00:31 PST
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