Living fully

Oscar Wilde wrote, "To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all."

Sister Joan Chittister says of that comment, "It's a sad thought but perhaps a true one. In a culture dedicated to work, to money, and to things, we are often too busy to enjoy the world in which we exist."

What do you think? Is there truth in Wilde's statement? In Chittister's response to it? What does it mean during this holiday season to really live? To "enjoy the world in which we exist"? How might it change the way you move through these next few weeks if you want to move from existing to really living?

I have seen the faces of people who appear to be sleepwalking through their lives. And I've spent too much time myself on auto-pilot, moving through my days and getting done what needed to be done without being fully aware of the world around me. I don't want to live like that. I want to be awake and aware, enjoying all the moments that are given to me. Open up all your senses. Take in as much as you can. Enjoy. And be grateful.

Some years ago Ralph S. Marston in his online blog "The Daily Motivator" wrote: "There is enormous power in this moment. The more fully you experience what is here right now, the more that power is available to you. ... There is great and wonderful power in this very moment, in who you are, in where you are right now. See it, be it, and let yourself live it fully."