Living a FULL life

As I write this I’m 60 floors in my hotel room in Singapore, reflecting on my trip and all the experiences I’ve had the last few days.  I was fortunate to have met up with my father as our trips coincided: a great experience in itself as we get to talk on a very different level when we are away from home. Maybe the pressures of home and family life that are slightly lifted, or maybe it’s the humid air; whatever it is we open up more and share our thoughts on this often complex thing called life.

As my father sat signing the books he just bought (he does this so me and my sister don’t steal them!) I asked him if perspectives really do change once you get older. He turned and said YES! “You start to focus on what’s really important in life and you worry less… ”The pressures you face as a youth (the rat race) just don’t mean as much as sitting with your grandchildren watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse!

What I got out of this conversation was this: It’s not important to have a perfect life, but a full life. A full life means embracing the ups and downs and dealing with them accordingly. 

This was further stressed when I met up with a good friend of mine who had just lost her grandfather. She was still grieving from the loss of this great man- but I found that when she spoke of him her eyes lit up; as she described with great pride how he brought people together by assisted gang members with employment, made the once small-time newspaper into a national one, received an honorary medal from the Queen and fostered a culture of joyfulness and buoyancy into his family.

His funeral was a testament to the life he had lived: with governors, prime ministers and local icons all in attendance. But what got me was that he had personal relationships with people: from the photographer to the priest- he had touched their lives, took time out and engaged them intimately.

  

Want to know the fabrics for having a full life? It’s just that… personal engagement on an intimate, honest level. Because when you do, you are fulfilling a part of you that is beyond the physical and mental- it is a spiritual filling that takes place.

 

So don’t get caught up in all the tangible things that people use to fill a void that can only be replaced by the intangible ( intimacy, vulnerability, experiences of joy and sorrow)- all the things the world has set aside and labelled ‘soft’ and not necessary for this cut-throat, hyper-masculine society. Do not be afraid to experience these things; don’t deny yourself the full spectrum of life.

Don’t wait till you’re older to start truly living, “The fact that you woke up today means God is not through with you yet!” allow me to modify this a little: “The fact that you woke up today means you have NO excuses to not truly live!”

 

So celebrate your existence, with all its highs and lows and live life the fullest now!

“Transform your thoughts, transform your life!”

Mutsa Samuel