donheff
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
I loved this OP Ed in the NYT on the joy of being alive. Nothing to summarize, just a day in the life piece from a guy of a certain age.
I suppose it’s a cliché to say you’re glad to be alive, that life is short, but to say you’re glad to be not dead requires a specific intimacy with loss that comes only with age or deep experience. One has to know not simply what dying is like, but to know death itself, in all its absoluteness.
After all, there are many ways to die — peacefully, violently, suddenly, slowly, happily, unhappily, too soon. But to be dead — one either is or isn’t.
The same cannot be said of aliveness, of which there are countless degrees.
+1I loved this OP Ed in the NYT on the joy of being alive. Nothing to summarize, just a day in the life piece from a guy of a certain age.
+1
Especially the part about tears being the carwash of the soul... Hardly ever used to cry... now it's much easier... Kinda like WD40... works well in tough or sticky situations.
I feel this way often. I'll be walking along and suddenly I just feel almost overwhelmed by how great it is to be me, alive at this time, in this place.
This fall I have been kind of working on expanding this feeling to rainy, blustery days. Today I was downtown when the sky opened up. I'm looking around and feeling, sure enough, rain and cold is also a very good thing. You feel your not deadness very acutely when you are dealing with some minor physical discomfort. I was soon soaked, caught a bus out to my GF's house, arrived saoking wet and with a bloody toe from walking with soaked shoes. So what does she do? She gets upset with me for needing some food and attention while she was still working on a project! I was so mellow with becoming one with the rain that I didn't get mad, I just took off my wet clothes, got a Cognac and turned on the Huskies game muted.
Tonight after I came home I sat on my couch and just watched the rain swirl around the street lamps. This makes me feel very peaceful.
Ha
Reminds me of our beloved Corgi's FRAP'ing (Frequent Acts of Play). Suddenly for no perceived reason he would dash up the stairs, run around the room, dash down the stairs, run around down there, and end up panting with a big smile on his face.I feel this way often. I'll be walking along and suddenly I just feel almost overwhelmed by how great it is to be me, alive at this time, in this place.
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Ha
Ha, I understand.I feel this way often. I'll be walking along and suddenly I just feel almost overwhelmed by how great it is to be me, alive at this time, in this place.
This fall I have been kind of working on expanding this feeling to rainy, blustery days. Today I was downtown when the sky opened up. I'm looking around and feeling, sure enough, rain and cold is also a very good thing. You feel your not deadness very acutely when you are dealing with some minor physical discomfort. I was soon soaked, caught a bus out to my GF's house, arrived saoking wet and with a bloody toe from walking with soaked shoes. So what does she do? She gets upset with me for needing some food and attention while she was still working on a project! I was so mellow with becoming one with the rain that I didn't get mad, I just took off my wet clothes, got a Cognac and turned on the Huskies game muted.
Tonight after I came home I sat on my couch and just watched the rain swirl around the street lamps. This makes me feel very peaceful.
Ha
Dogs are an endless source of amusement aren't they. The four we've had certainly have been, literally every day of their/our lives...Reminds me of our beloved Corgi's FRAP'ing (Frequent Acts of Play). Suddenly for no perceived reason he would dash up the stairs, run around the room, dash down the stairs, run around down there, and end up panting with a big smile on his face.
ISo what does she do? She gets upset with me for needing some food and attention while she was still working on a project!
I feel this way often. I'll be walking along and suddenly I just feel almost overwhelmed by how great it is to be me, alive at this time, in this place.
This fall I have been kind of working on expanding this feeling to rainy, blustery days. Today I was downtown when the sky opened up. I'm looking around and feeling, sure enough, rain and cold is also a very good thing. You feel your not deadness very acutely when you are dealing with some minor physical discomfort. I was soon soaked, caught a bus out to my GF's house, arrived saoking wet and with a bloody toe from walking with soaked shoes. So what does she do? She gets upset with me for needing some food and attention while she was still working on a project! I was so mellow with becoming one with the rain that I didn't get mad, I just took off my wet clothes, got a Cognac and turned on the Huskies game muted.
Tonight after I came home I sat on my couch and just watched the rain swirl around the street lamps. This makes me feel very peaceful.
Ha
I feel this way often. I'll be walking along and suddenly I just feel almost overwhelmed by how great it is to be me, alive at this time, in this place.
+1Rather than exclaiming, "The poor man, he looks like a drowned rat" and insisting on toweling you off and getting you a cup of hot tea. That is what my mother would have done, and what I would probably do.
Amethyst
I loved this OP Ed in the NYT on the joy of being alive. Nothing to summarize, just a day in the life piece from a guy of a certain age.
Funny but I read this constantly wondering where the "joy" was. However, I am not a "city person". Joy is found in the colorful sunset of a clear desert evening, or the soft distant call of seagulls above the gentle breaking of ocean waves on a warm sunny tropical beach. Dining on a rooftop overlooking the din of the concrete jungle would prompt in me a primal urge to jump off the nearest ledge. A true friend of mine would not be offering me dinner in NYC but rather facilitating my escape back to the real world
Joy is found in the colorful sunset of a clear desert evening, or the soft distant call of seagulls above the gentle breaking of ocean waves on a warm sunny tropical beach.
Yes, to each his own. I love both environments but like to live in the city.+1
But to each his own.
A true friend of mine would not be offering me dinner in NYC but rather facilitating my escape back to the real world
Funny but I read this constantly wondering where the "joy" was. However, I am not a "city person". Joy is found in the colorful sunset of a clear desert evening, or the soft distant call of seagulls above the gentle breaking of ocean waves on a warm sunny tropical beach. Dining on a rooftop overlooking the din of the concrete jungle would prompt in me a primal urge to jump off the nearest ledge. A true friend of mine would not be offering me dinner in NYC but rather facilitating my escape back to the real world