The Beauty of the Human Experience
Something that has been constantly revolving around my mind lately is how beautiful the human experience is. It is something that I sometimes forget when I am in a down period or feeling overwhelmed or stressed out. Being alive is such an immense gift that comes with lots of highs, but of course where there are highs there must come a low. Everything ebs and flows. Like the waves in the ocean, the leaves on the trees, the skin of a snake and the list could go on forever. I think that if we keep reminding ourselves of our cyclical things are, we are able to stay more present and really enjoy each moment as it is. The notion of impermanence. In yoga, it’s aparigraha or non-attachment, and I’m sure each belief system has their own way of explaining this, because it works. Because to be unattached means to be free. When you recognize how fleeting each moment is, whether if it’s a high or a low moment, you can see it for what it is, just that it IS. And to be is beautiful, wether you see it as a good thing or a bad thing, it is just is.
I used to only recognize the highs as the beautiful parts of the human experience, but it ALL is beautiful and necessary. Maybe I’m being repetitive and maybe you hear it all of the time, but if we keep coming back to the reality that everything is always changing and that everything is beautiful, then we can live a more enjoyable existence.
At many points in my life has this idea presented itself to me. Living in Nicaragua definitely has helped me recognize the beauty in life because of its simplicity. That happiness does not come from having the most successful job, or having the nicest things, but happiness comes from just existing and throughoughly being in your existence. Like the action of just sitting in a hammock because you can and taking in the area around you. Or helping out a neighbor, because you can. Or smiling and waving at every single person you see, regardless of if your day went “well” or “badly.” The list can go on. In May, I was on a trip with my sister and was reminded again of what a gift and a beautiful thing it is to witness others living their human experience. To see people lay in the grass, talking, laughing, sight-seeing and simply just doing their thing. It put me in complete awe of how special it is to see the aliveness of other humans and to let that remind us that we are, too, alive.
The thing that is beautiful is that we are ALIVE. And what a priviledge it is to live. To love, to laugh, to cry, to eat, to connect, to grieve, to see, to smell, to hear, to walk, to move, to breathe. The littlest things we can take for granted but that make it all.
In religion, people search for God. And that is a beautiful thing, to have faith. But what if you started to notice that the higher power or greater good is you, and everything and everyone around you. To recognize that it isn’t only found in church, in a temple, or in a mosque, but that it is within you, and can be spread by you when you spread love, light and joy. And of course, life throws us curve balls that can send us down into the darkest crevices that we think we will never return from, but even in those times, look deep within you for even the tiniest little flame that you can slowly stoke into a fire for yourself. To allow your inner light to emanate. For you to simply breathe and be alive is doing that. You have a purpose, you are loved and you are a puzzle piece of this whole pizza pie. So, enjoy the pizza!