The joys of life
On a fairly regular basis I get this overwhelming feeling that it’s just great to be alive. It occurs out of nowhere and doesn’t seem to be related to my overall mood - or anything else for that matter. More often than not it happens when there’s nothing particularly ‘joyful’ happening, for example, it happened this evening as I was getting off the bus and walking to my car. Nothing unusual there, it happens everyday. I haven’t had a particularly good day and in fact I wouldn’t even rate it as any kind of good. I’m really tired and know that my semester project will be a big ask this week. We have to present it next Tuesday and then documentation is due about a week after that.
It’s an absolutely wonderful feeling and I’d love to know how it works so I could pass it around. I think it’s about observation and just seeing the simple things around me and realising how lucky I am. Tonight it was about how I go to work every day, usually the same way, and I see the same things and I really know my route quite well. I see some of the same people most days and although I don’t talk to them I enjoy the opportunity to observe and think about what their lives might be like.
But that’s not quite it. I just can’t seem to pin it down - the feeling that is, and why I get it. Or maybe it’s just that I can’t express it very well.
Another example is when I was getting a drink of cordial in the kitchen recently and I offered to get Hannah a drink while I was there. Again, nothing special about the situation or my mood but it just felt great that I was getting a drink from my kitchen. It was kind of like “wow, I’m living, independent, surrounded by great people and I by gosh, I can get a drink….WHEN EVER I LIKE!”
I guess this is making me sound a little crazy so I’ll stop now, but that’s how it is.
To those who experience similar bursts of life’s energy, you have explained it well.
A sudden rising and filling of our inner being with a “happiness” that momentarily overwhelms us…..it can put a smile on my face, cause me to laugh out loud, and even bring tears to my eyes.
It’s a personal experience that is difficult to adequately express to others because it can often have such an indescriminate or undifined origin. But we just enjoy it for what it is.
My husband is recouperating from surgery and relies on me for assistance and support. He handed me his socks this morning and I pulled them on his feet. I have done this twice a day for the past ten days, and this morning I was filled with a warmth and contentment as he wriggled his toes into his socks….a fleeting, but joyful feeling of life and love.
hunter
hunter
5 Jun 05 at 8:41 am
WOW! Sounds like you’ve got serotonin aplenty!
“I want want he’s having!!!”
Good luck to you, Dr ZAx, your life seems blessed!
booshkie
9 Jun 05 at 10:34 pm
Love it and it’s how I’ve felt at most times all throughout my life
I’ve always been able to climb back up to reload the feeling into my favourites list for easy access even after the most saddening situations and it continues to allude me the how and why of it all and I wonder how other people can get along as well as they do without ever knowing such a feeling? I’d bottle it if I could and give it away by the truckload!
I have many times explained the situation exactly to the Artherarf as it has happened to me almost all of my life and still does and it’s taken almost 19 years to get the general infection to take root in their gardenand start to grow in their headspace. I feel like a gardener of sorts. I have some losses but that hasn’t stopped me from trying to stay happy as much as I am able and pass out cuttings as and when I’m able. Which lad, is what you’ve just done for me :))))
Love your work, never change.
Tapperboy
9 Jun 05 at 10:34 pm
Thanks to Tapper for pointing me to this page - and thanks to you Simon for the reminder…
We are damn lucky in this world - there is so much “other” stuff going on, but I often find myself looking up at the sun filtering through the leaves on an old gum, or just taking in the serenity (!) of the river and all its inhabitants floating past. I too get that pure, enviable joy within - it lifts up my heart and makes me feel as if life really is ever so precious and beautiful.
I guess it is love…
take it all in, feel every drop, sense everything as if it is for the first time
life is short - live it with your eyes open and your heart ready and never hold any regrets
m
Mandi
9 Jun 05 at 11:42 pm
[...] I already know that this is one of those days where it’s simply impossible to miss noticing the joys of life, and just as I’m nearing the start of the bridge my MP3 player on random spits out Hotel Song3 by Regina Spektor. I don’t think I could have chosen a song to better suit the scene4. The river looks great this afternoon, much better than it often does. The bright sky is being reflected, and as I move out from under the freeway I look toward Southbank to see the sun, just hiding behind one of the deep clouds that are scattered around the sky. It giving the cloud a spectacular outer glow. Beams of sunlight can be seen descending on parts of south Brisbane and West End behind the lager office blocks and apartment buildings that now define the Southbank skyline and mostly obscure Mt Coot-tha. [...]
sw’as » Nature Shines
21 Oct 06 at 6:36 pm