Aliveness

You breathe, your heart beats and like many other organisms, you’re alive. The question, of what makes one collection of molecules a lifeless blob and another a living organism, has puzzled many scientists and philosophers. The physicist Fritjof Capra has an interesting answer: molecules in a living organism are organized in an interrelated network and have a feedback loop that allows it to learn from and adapt to its environment. What’s interesting is that it’s the pattern of relationships between molecules that empowers life. Even at a mundane level, it’s amazing how life emerges; after a fire destroys a forest, or even at the bottom of your bread bin.

So far, we’ve only found life on earth. Given the billions of planets within billions of galaxies in the known universe physicists say that it’s highly likely that we’ll eventually find life on other planets. The fact that life on other planets appears so hard to find makes our own life more precious. Luckily for us, our bodies are a very sophisticated life-form, far more complex than the latest smartphone. As our body is always here, it’s something we can all too easily take for granted. That is, until our body becomes ill, or is under threat in some way.

In his book, A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson uses a day to show what happened since the Earth formed over 4.5 billion years ago. On this scale, humans emerge less than two minutes before midnight and the whole of recorded history lasts for two seconds. When we’re young it seems as if we have endless years ahead of us, but by mid-life we realize that time goes faster than we imagined. In the big scheme of things, a single human lifetime is not even the blink of an eye.

So, what does it mean to feel alive? Take a moment to bring to mind the last moment you really felt fully alive, if you can with a similar level of clarity and connection that Mary Oliver touches on in her poem, which you can play below. The chances are that there was something about being fully connected with your body and senses in this present moment. Saying that our body is always in the present moment is both obvious and not obvious at the same time. Our body is always present, but we continually disconnect from it when we enter the world of thought, whether we’re intentionally thinking on purpose or drifting off in a daydream.

By cultivating mindfulness, we learn to re-establish a friendly and more intimate relationship with our body, using our body as the anchor to return to the present moment.

Apart from sometimes commenting on aches and pains, the mind tends not to know much about the experience of our body in the present moment. Instead, thoughts about the body tend to focus on how our body looks from the outside to ourselves and other people.

There’s also another reason why we tend to live in our heads. As we developed from childhood, many of us learned to avoid uncomfortable or painful feelings held in the body by taking refuge in our thoughts. This reactive pattern is deeply embedded in many of us. Mindfulness allows us to turn towards uncomfortable feelings with openness, care, and self-compassion, which helps us re-discover a more intimate connection with our own bodies.

Life is all around us, from the birds in the garden, and trees at the side of the road, to the good bacteria in our bodies that fight off infection. As far as we know, being human has the greatest potential of these amazing forms. It’s said that people gain an insight into how precious life is just before they die, which could be seen as too little too late. With mindful awareness we can really explore what it means to be alive; precious, amazing, miraculous. And spend each day for the rest of our lives in appreciation, gratitude, and wonder.

Suggested weekly practice

Use curiosity and beginner’s mind to notice and appreciate the precious aliveness that’s around you; the flower growing through the pavement, the birdsong at the bus stop, or the carrots that you peel for dinner.
Remember to connect with the present moment by bringing your attention and awareness to your body.
Try meditating on the body, maybe with a body scan, and appreciate the energy and aliveness as you work around the body.

Guidance

Find somewhere undisturbed and sit in a comfortable, dignified and upright posture, where you can remain alert and aware.
There are two guided practices for this session. You can close your eyes, or lower your gaze while the meditations play.

Play the first settling practice, play the poem and then read through the session content, which you can print off if that helps.
Then play the second practice to explore and experience the aliveness in your body and senses.