Every day above ground is a good day.
(EVR)
For me, when choking from stress in life (usually the result of losing perspective and adopting untempered expectations), it’s helpful if I can find a time and place away from everything where I can be alone with my thoughts and surround myself with nothing but reminders of the giftness of life. During such times, I can remember and appreciate again what is really important in life. The fact that I get to breathe air into my lungs. The fact that I get to share time with loved ones. Already accomplished progress on a meaningful project. The beauty of a sunset. The smell and warmth of my soulmate pushed up against me in bed. Or the simple feeling of steam on my forehead from a good cup of tea.
If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly,
our whole life would change.(Jack Kornfield)[1]
In such quiet times, I am able to remember that of all the combinations of atoms in the universe, I was lucky enough to be a living being—and, on top of that, to be a living human being, who, unlike any other animal, can appreciate the universe and my own life. Trillions upon trillions of atoms in the universe never get the chance to be conscious or to register a single aesthetic experience of life—but we do. Rocks never get to listen to a thunderstorm, write a book or pet a dog. But we do. And we too often forget this privilege.
My heart still beats and I still breathe.
Today is a miracle, because I am alive.
(EVR)
We should occasionally walk around in a daze of wonder, unable to believe our eyes at having awakened in such a beautiful universe. We should try to remember how fundamentally lucky we are to be here at all. Such gratitude for life can permeate our being and fill us with a sense of abundance, allowing our life to feel deeply fulfilling and oddly immortal, or perhaps eternal—as if we have all we could ever want and as if we have had all we could ever ask for, because we have already won. We have already achieved and experienced the greatest value we could ever hope for: the chance at life itself.
I still find it staggering that I am here at all.
(Christopher Leach)[2]
During such moments, I overflow with a sense of gratitude for having had the chance to live. Even if I were to die in the next moment, it feels like it would be okay, because I have already had the greatest gift possible. These moments of life appreciation fill me with a triumphant “no-lose” feeling—a feeling that my life can never actually be a tragedy, because at the bottom of it all has been the ultimate triumph of both having had the gift of life and of appreciating that I had it.
The universe has given us this great gift of life, this miracle.
People are always looking for god in the burning bush,
but the bush itself is a miracle.
Everything—just being alive—is a miracle,
just being here and having this great gift.
(John Izzo)[3]
To have had the gift of life means we’re already winners—winners in the lottery of existence. The key is to awaken to the value of that win. Embracing our lives helps us feel that we are the luckiest people on Earth simply because we got the chance to live. Believing this hurts no one, but it helps us to feel that our life is deeply sanguine and special in our living of it.
To learn more about Life Savor’s philosophy,
read Life Savor: Treasuring Our Gift of Life by Erik Victor Reed.
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The Preciousness of Life
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- Jack Kornfield, Buddha’s Little Instruction Book (New York: Bantam, 1994), 112. ↑
- Christopher Leach. Izquote.com. https://izquotes.com/quote/christopher-leach/do-you-realize-what-this-means-the-fact-of-being-alive-i-still-find-it-staggering-that-i-am-346412, accessed February 6, 2019. ↑
- Fourth Lecture “Series IV: Enjoy More: Living a Life of Joy” from The Five Secrets You Must Discover Before You Die hosted by John Izzo (DPTV Media, 2008). DVD (3-disc set). ↑
