Mary’s Minute
“Wake up from accidental
living.”
~ John O’Leary
Some people experience events
in their lives that push them into a period of awakening. For Greg
Matthews it came when he was attacked by an 800 pound grizzly bear and narrowly
escaped death. (He tells his story of awakening in his book Wild
Awakening: How a Raging Grizzly
Healed his Wounded Heart.) For John O’Leary it came after being burned
over 100% of his body, which he shares in his book On Fire: The 7 Choices to
Ignite a Radically Inspired Life. For these people life forced them to
look in the mirror and make positive changes.
Some of us need to create our
own awakening of sorts. We need to choose a moment that forces us to
challenge our “accidental” living and spring into a period of deliberate
action.
Reflection is the key to this
process of awakening and can also be triggered by events that affect us
indirectly. This week we lost a dear colleague, and in mourning, the
Perry Central family feels is a sense of awakening. We are reminded of a short life lived
well. We are reminded how uncertain life is. We are reminded that every day, every
interaction matters!
Reflecting on the brevity of
life and a life well lived are not the same as an attack by a bear or a tragic
fire, but they are opportunities for an awakening. In the sadness that
follows, I hope that you can find peace that comes from waking up from
accidental living.
I wish you well.
Mary
If there is such a thing as Thoreauvian, your reflection fits. Here’s what Henry David Thoreau wrote on this topic:
ReplyDelete“To be awake is to be alive. I have never yet met a man who was quite awake. How could I have looked him in the face?
“We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aids, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn, which does not forsake us in our soundest sleep. I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor.”
In short, we must not drift drowsing through life, for if we do we miss the colors and the sounds of it, the touch and the scent. Drowsing, we see life not in technicolor, not even in black and white, but in dull gray. Life is far more than merely being entertained.
Thanks for a stimulating essay!
Larry - Thank you so much for your comment. I love the Thoreau quotes and your reflections. You are a great model of how to live a life in technicolor! Thanks so much for your encouragement. It means a lot.
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