Thursday, August 06, 2015

On living with our eyes wide open

‎"The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware."
Henry Miller
Sometimes, when I'm doing something insanely cool, like interviewing in a studio I've wanted to see since I was a kid, I find myself in what I like to call a hyper-aware state. My eyes are wide open, and it seems like they're not blinking. Because to blink might mean I'd miss the smallest detail, and that simply wouldn't do.

At moments like these, time seems to slow down, and I become aware of the tiniest details. The reflection of traffic lights on the pre-dawn, rain-soaked intersection, the sound of the wind as the winter storm outside picks up, the feeling of settling into my office chair, fingers on the keyboard as my brain spins up for a day of writing and prepares to make something out of nothing.

I find myself holding onto imagery like this, because I know later on I'll want to revisit it, and I never want to forget not only what it looked and sounded like, but what it felt like, as well.

The notion of being alive has shifted for me. As I touched on in yesterday's entry, it's no longer about simply being on this planet. Rather, it's about squeezing as much as possible from the proverbial bottle before someone calls it empty. And if we're not squeezing for all we're worth, I'm not entirely sure if there's even a point to it all.

Your turn‎: How do you squeeze more out of your own life?

1 comment:

PastormacsAnn said...

This is difficult for me as for the last five years I've struggled with wanting to live as all.

At any rate, I saw this today and thought of you, Carmi.
"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. To keep our faces toward change and behave like free spirits in the presence of fate is strength undefeatable." -- Helen Keller

Always appreciate your thoughts, Carmi. And I'm so glad you're still here and are able to share them.