…”I’ve heard of those who are good at cultivating life
Traveling on the road, they do not encounter rhinos or tigers
Entering into an army, they are not harmed by weapons
Rhinos have nowhere to thrust their horns
Tigers have nowhere to clasp their claws
Soldiers have nowhere to lodge their blades
Why? Because they have no place for death”

Excerpt from Chapter 50, Tao Te Ching

Life is Sacred.

Life is a sacred journey.

It is a journey of experience.

It is a spiritual journey.

Life is experiencing.

We humans believe ourselves to be the highest order of intelligent life on this planet. Yet we are arguably the most distracted species when it comes to being alive and experiencing life. Here in the United States, I have observed our society become seduced into mental addictions that set a deep conditioning for long-term distraction. To sit mesmerized for hours on end with the mind absorbed into non-reality diverts and captivates your attention. Your attention becomes so immersed in illusion, that you can lose touch with reality. In this exclusionary state, you become disconnected from the real world. This is a disconnection with life and experiencing. Distraction is a reduction in the life experience. Experiencing life is a continuous journey, step by step, day by day. Through experience and learning, we can transcend the distracted life and live our true life.

A Moment of Truth

Take a moment. Can you remember how precious life is? When someone we love is taken from us, we remember in a primal way just how precious life is. In those moments we reach for a spiritual connection to help us keep on living. In these moments of truth, we wake up and realize where we are and what is happening. Sometimes it is painful, other times it can be a moment of bliss. Awareness is the conscious connection to life and experiencing. Life is a precious journey.

Not only is life precious, it is not as ordinary as the ego would have you believe. Any time you sense yourself judging something as ordinary, realize that this is the ego’s influence on your state of mind.

Here is an example.

Stop what you are doing and close your eyes. In your mind, look for a memory where you had a moment of truth. It may have been some big news, a discovery of profound meaning. Possibly it is bad news about a health condition or the loss of a loved one or friend. If you have witnessed the birth of a child time seems to stop. Any big moment where time slowed way down and your life came to a halt. When you are in a moment and fully experiencing the flow of reality around you, Life is anything but ordinary. It is the ego and its insatiable desire that finds life mundane. You must rise above this distracted state.

It is time for a self-awareness check. How distracted from life are you?

• How many hours a day do you spend on social media?
• How many hours a day do you spend watching TV
• When was the last time you sat still and did nothing but observe a sunrise or sunset?
• When was the last time you sat across from someone you love and looked into their eyes?
• When was the last time you were consciously aware of each bite, each taste, of a meal?
• When was the last time you gazed up at the clouds and sky and noticed what a beautiful day it is?

And the really big question: “When was the last time you stopped and realized how good it is to be alive?”

Life is a sacred experience. It is why we are all here. So wake up and pay attention to just how extra-ordinary it is.