Stayin' Alive

What makes you truly feel ALIVE?

I recently went to see that movie "Crazy Heart" and it really made me THINK. I love those movies that make you look at your own life and realize things about yourself that you never thought of before.

I was trying to think about what I truly want for my life, what do I want to look back at 80 and see accomplished. Did I go through the motions and keep it all together, but remain in a prison of routine? Did I truly EXPERIENCE things the way they should be experienced, or did I rush by miracles just to cross something off my to-do list?

Being a Type-A'er, 'feeling alive' isn't something that you hear often in my circles. That is just 'ridiculous' talk that only Type B'ers would say. But in a way, I think I almost have multiple people living inside me. I am very organized, pretty much a slave to my planner, routine-lover, planner, etc. I ENJOY those things and they bring me calm, a sense of order and that is how I process the world.

However, the other side of me rarely feels ALIVE, truly ALIVE. I almost forget that I should be feeling it because there is so much time and routine in between occurrences of feeling alive! That needs to change!

Some of the things that make me feel alive are:

• going to a place I have never been before
• an open road
• watching the ocean and it's amazing power
• big, huge cities
• a huge, orange sunset
  
• traveling
• learning to do something I have never done before and/or never thought I could do
• Playing with dogs
• Standing at a great height and looking at all God has created

There are many more, I'm sure, but most of them I haven't experienced yet. And that's a shame. I really need to work on creating a life where I know well the feeling of being truly ALIVE - emotionally, physically, spiritually......and OFTEN.