“Unbeing dead isn’t being alive” – E. E. Cummings
How many times have you let being “unbeing dead” be good enough for you?
It becomes easier to answer the question when you stop and realize that you can count the number of times that you felt truly alive – and the number is dangerously low.
It is easy to slip into the state of unliving. So easy, in fact, some would call it the default mode.
But here’s the thing: Nothing ever truly joyful, innovative, transformative or meaningful happens there.
All the good stuff is waiting for you when you dare to move outside of unbeing dead and step into being alive.
Are You Alive or Unbeing Dead?
Just because you’re breathing doesn’t mean you’re alive. It simply means you’re unbeing dead. How can you tell the difference?
When you’re unbeing dead, you’re simply moving through your days, your biological functions intact, but your spiritual ones greatly disrupted, strained to the point of breaking. You desperately search for meaning and yearn to engage in something that inspires you and gives back.
You find yourself caught in the stark reality of what you think is “life,” and label yourself a dreamer for wishing for something “more.”
But I think we actually have it all wrong.
This sober reality where nothing is happy and all is grey isn’t really life at all. How could it be, when you, yourself have glimpsed the feelings of inspiration, happiness and meaning?
How could there be more, but then also have the reality of life be that we’re supposed to live in a dull, mechanical realness in which we feel nothing?
It can’t.
The real reality is that life lives in the space of inspiration. It lives in the cracks of happiness and the crevices of dreams.
It’s when you’re living instead of unbeing dead that the magic happens.
How To Live In The Present
“Alive” only happens now, in the present moment.
It doesn’t happen yesterday or tomorrow. It happens right now.
When you’re going to work every day and imagining the day you can quit or the day you can retire, you’re not taking advantage of right now.
Being happy is a state of mind. You have some (or maybe a great deal of) control over your happiness by learning how to live in the present and not bothering yourself with the past or the future.
Eckhart Tolle says that right now, everything is ok. As long as you’re not thinking about what’s happened in the past or what’s going to happen in the future, you’re almost always fine – free from worry and anxiety.
Bringing your attention to the present moment is very powerful. But learning how to live in the present can be difficult and can take a lifetime of practice.
Live In The Present, Plan For The Future
As much as we all need to learn to be happy with “now,” you can, and should, make plans to make the future everything you want it to be. If you’re unhappy at work I strongly encourage you to get the help you need to make sure that you figure out how to get into a better situation so that you can be happy.
Life is short.
You deserve the joyful, innovative, transformative and meaningful things life has to offer you. You’re creative and deserve to resonate with life, not to work against the grain of it.
Break free of unbeing dead. Choose to focus on today and make sure that each moment is as aligned with your authentic self as possible.