by Eileen Lighthawk

I am a devoted fan of communication. Communication plays a key role in increasing our awareness and deepening our connection with our Selves, with Spirit and with the many other living beings with whom we interact. Language is one form of communication which fascinates me. Sometimes when words come together in new and unexpected ways, we discover meanings that may have eluded us in the past.

There are terms which may never appear in any dictionary, but yet make perfect sense. "Aliveness" is one such term which resonates with me. It may not be proper English, but then again, neither am I.

Many years ago I came across the phrase, "joy, aliveness and growth" in a book I was reading.

"Aliveness?" My brain wasn't sure what to make of the word . . . but my heart knew. Yes! That"s what I was longing for - Aliveness!

It seems that I was not unique in this. Look around. You can see it in the dull eyes of the rush-hour commuters, in the weary faces of the after-work grocery shoppers, in the oh-so-cool affectations of the kids who gather outside every junior high and high school, in the catatonic stares of people who sit for hours, blue-faced, in front of rehashed, rerun television shows. Our society is crying out for aliveness.

True, we are all alive, to some degree or another. Being alive is part of being here. But I dare say few people live with the "aliveness" which Spirit has intended for us.

We come into this world kicking and screaming and gasping for air. Our senses explore and investigate and send mountains of data to our curious brains and eager hearts. Our brains process all the information they can get, and then send our young bodies out to discover more. What's this thing? A hand? Oh look! I can move it. Maybe, if I can figure out how to get these little appendages to do what I want, I can use it to move other things!

The excitement of discovery animates our young bodies and gives us purpose. Emotions course through our being. Hugs? Good! Dirty diapers? Bad! Milk? Good! Fear? Bad. Siblings? Don't know yet. And so it goes. Eventually, we learn to get our feet underneath us and explore a larger world. We discover more about ourselves and our world. We have thoughts and ideas that are uniquely our own. We remember things that the grownups around us seem to have forgotten. We are awake to the gifts of each moment. We become. This is our nature.

Then, somewhere along the way, maybe early, maybe later, but somewhere, we all discover pain and insecurity, betrayal, disappointment, heartbreak. At some point, our bodies become a nuisance, our world becomes a threatening place, our relationships turn into battlefields, and life in space-time on planet Earth seems more like a prison sentence than the wonderful adventure it was meant to be. With each perceived physical or emotional hurt, we have a choice to shut down or discover the gift. Unfortunately, most of us choose to shut down, little by little, until we hide our beauty even from ourselves and deform ourselves into little more than survivors, the walking wounded going through the motions - human doings, dragging through life in unhappy bodies.

When was the last time you blew bubbles, played a musical instrument, danced alone in your living room, finger-painted, ran headlong into a sprinkler, sang real loud, told someone, "I love you" without expectation? Lucky for us, "it ain't over, yet."

One of the most precious, magical, delightful, wonder-full gifts we all have is the gift of choice. The past is past, the future is uncertain. Life is lived in moments. Those are life's gifts - moments and the power of choice. We could waste this moment by choosing to focus on the pain of the past or on the imagined pain of an imagined future or on the painful effects our past unconscious choices have created in the present. OR, we could try something different.

Right here, right now in this moment, we can remember what it is like to be awake and aware and curious. We can choose aliveness. We can open our minds and our eyes and our hearts, knowing that if we choose aliveness and love in this moment, then joy and growth and peace and healing and strength and wonder and purpose and meaning and all those other good things people ache for will just naturally begin to flow as well. We become. This is our nature.

The more healing work I do on myself and with others, the more it seems to me that the most healing thing any person of any age in any physical condition can do is to connect to the Source of all Life, of all Aliveness, which is Love. We knew that once; we just forgot. Life is a divine gift. Unwrap the present.


el 1998