How To Feel ALIVE Again
This was always the time of year in Minnesota when I felt a desperation for spring. Like this deep, soul-yearning, I don't think I can take another moment of winter, god help us all if we get another snowstorm, kind of desperation.
Regardless of whether spring complied and satisfied my yearning or we did, in fact, get another snowstorm, this time of year always brings forward a stirring inside of me.
It's the stirring of hope. Of regeneration. Of aliveness.
Yes. I know there is a lot going on in the world. I am in no way, shape, or form suggesting that you ignore or try to make yourself numb to it.
And I also know this -- you are ALIVE.
You are alive physically, of course, but I'm talking about aliveness on a deeper level.
Aliveness is the feeling that comes bubbling up in your chest when the setting sun hits the melting snow, making it light on fire with glow and glitter.
It's dancing in your car when an awesome song comes on regardless of who might be watching in the car next to you.
It's sitting on your patio in the sun and just letting yourself BE.
And sometimes it's allowing yourself to cry and feel despair and grief and frustration flow through you. Because that's aliveness, too.
Last month, on one of those Colorado days where winter seems to disappear and is temporarily replaced by a random 70-degree day, I wrote a poem about coming back alive. I found myself reading it again this weekend, when spring didn't feel like just a temporary wind in the air, but seemed validated by the crocuses popping up through the dirt and the tiniest of buds showing up on the trees.
I wanted to share it with you as well, as a reminder of the aliveness inside of you. Here it is:
Sun on my face
Thaw in my heart
These warm winter days
Give my soul a start
Back to the Earth
To the place I am free
Igniting the wildness
Alive inside me
Fierce and untamed
Escaping to soar
Swooping around
An unshakable core
Grounded in spirit
Untethered in flight
Breaking the bonds from
Supposed-to and right
Alive once again
Heart, body, and soul
True, worthy, complete
And already whole
Nothing to perform
Nowhere to flee
The only thing left
Is just to BE
Settle into the warm
Lift your face to the sun
Awake, alive
And perfectly, undone
You, too, have an unshakeable core. You, too, can free yourself to be grounded and untethered at the same time. You, too, can allow yourself just to BE, separate from any kind of performing needed.
So give yourself a moment this week to lift your face to the sun. Feel its warmth. Notice the stirring inside of you.
Awake, alive, and perfectly, undone.
P.S. I've come to believe so strongly in following aliveness that it's now included in my keynote, Surviving To Thriving: A New Way To Manage Burnout. Because it isn't just about getting through burnout -- it's about coming back alive and thriving. Click on the button below to learn more about this keynote and how to bring it to your organization.