Being Engaged With Life

Being militant means one is engaged with life at all levels emotionally, psychologically and spiritually. Everyone I know (and even those I don’t know) are going to go through this process we call life. If you were born you are going to die. What you do between those two events is what really matters.  

I believe that everything in this world matters, that is, it has purpose. Everyone who is born has a purpose for being on the planet. There is no way I can prove that but for me it makes sense so far as I can reason. To be engaged in our lives is to fulfill that purpose. To be engaged is to be mindful that your existence matters, that what you do matters; that how you treat yourself and how you treat others matters.
 
I have found that people who have no sense of purpose find life extremely painful. So painful, in fact, that many take their own life. In an ironic kind of way even that act of suicide fulfills a purpose for them. That act, however, disengages them from life and often leaves a legacy that takes generations to heal. So many of my clients who have had previous loved ones commit suicide carry the burden of loss, shame and regret.
 
To be engaged is to have a sense that what you do and how you live will not only impact yourself, but will impact others on the planet, most notably those who are closest to you.

To be engaged means that you recognize your influence on the people you love. It so fascinates me that people often take for granted those who they say they most love. Husbands and wives often treat others better than they treat each other. Children are often more kind and more considerate to friends than they are to siblings. It seems that familiarity can indeed breed contempt.

To be engaged in life means to be aware of the patterns of nature, from the sun coming up to the sun going down. Mindfulness means being aware of the warmth of the sun, the breeze that cleans the air and changes the terrain and all life that is around us. It has taken literally millions of years to shape the earth that we are now experiencing. There is a kind of awe that is impossible for me to describe when I think if that. What I can do is to live mindfully and to live in gratitude.