What Brings You Alive?
/"What brings you alive?" a friend inquired recently. We were reconnecting after ten years and, over coffee, she shared the story of her 'coming alive'.
Ten years ago, she realized that her world had become smaller when she was not looking. Her daily thoughts were repeats from yesterday's thoughts. Her routines were on autopilot. Her relationship was flat. She did her work and collected her pay. She was bored and numb, no longer seeking anything interesting, just moving through her days.
One day the question “What brings you alive?” caused her to sit up. Her immediate response was, “Not a doggone thing.“
With eyes brimming and a knot in her throat, she wondered, “When did I become so small? I need more! I want to LIVE!” she proclaimed aloud. A colleague died suddenly a few days later, bringing urgency to her thoughts. As we sipped our coffee ten years later, she was gloriously, beautifully, vibrantly alive. I was fascinated. What did she do? How did she start?
She made no grand gestures; in many small ways – every day – she chose to wake up. She became a student, taking classes that were free or inexpensive. You name it, she's likely studied it. Through Community Ed and the local YMCA, a nearby community college, through the library, with the county's artist guild, on a local farm, and at her church, she became curious and learned.
Her curiosity for people and ideas spurred her to enriching conversations and to unforeseen friendships. She read books she would not have read otherwise. She created artwork and pottery, planted a hay - bale garden, learned to speak Spanish, studied history, rode the light rail, took piano lessons and even a statistics class (really!), and volunteered at a women's shelter.
What I find equally compelling is that she lives in the same house, has the same job, the same boyfriend (now husband), and even the same dog as she did ten years ago. She changed her mind, not her address, and subsequently changed her entire world.
What brings you alive?
What quickens your pulse in anticipation or brings stillness to your heart?
Is there something that is inviting you to see, think, do, or be more?
Are there mundane things you can release to make room for something that interests you?
If your life feels small, push a little at the boundaries. Start today. Right now. One step. Begin. Your actions need not be earth shattering, just something that causes you to look up from your phone. Take a different route home. Buy one new food item at the grocery store. Read a book by a new author. Try a new yoga class. Volunteer. Become curious and ask questions of complete strangers. Consider another viewpoint. Hand-write a letter. Take a workshop or class. Try something that scares you just a little bit. Talk to your neighbor. How about a random act of kindness? Do you feel more alive?
Today is a birthday of sorts. Wake up! Look up. You can do this. Choose something – anything – that brings you alive.
Elizabeth Bayer is a graduate of Green Lotus’s 200-hour and 300-hour yoga teacher-training programs. She is a noted lecturer, workshop leader, and author of two non-fiction books dealing with self-discovery – her 2003 memoir Wednesdays at the Fluff 'n' Fold and 2016's Yoga Expression Spirit in which she chronicles the three pillars of her life. In 2020, Elizabeth and her husband founded the Annandale Art and Textile Center, the non-profit home of the Heart of the Lakes Weavers, a vocational-weaving program employing individuals with social and developmental disabilities.