Life - Life 101 lecture

Life:
1. The course of existence or sum of experiences and actions that constitute a person's existence.
2. Animation; liveliness; spirit; resilience; elasticity.
3. The force that makes or keeps something alive.
4. A mode or manner of existence.
5. Nature or any of the forms of nature as the model or subject of a work of art.

Life is the totality of experiences and endeavors that make up your own personal story. There is good, there is bad, there is hard, there is simple, there is insanity, there is peace, and in time there is always understanding. the actualization of living is doing. Even in the most mundane of tasks we are moving. With every moment we grow, we learn, we change. Each thing we come in contact with leaves us with an impression of some kind. Mostly we ignore these things and get angry when they trip us. We curse, we cry, we fight. And when we have good days we laugh, we cry, we embrace one another, and pass on a state of joyful euphoria that we call Love. Even "Hanging Around" can tach us something. With everything we let in, we have to make space for what we can't hold any longer, so we pass on gifts to our fellow man.

Of course, it might seem like we are not living when we are standing still. But even in not moving forward physically we are moving a million miles a minute inside our heads, inside out veins, inside our hearts, and inside and out of our spiritual center (soul). It doesn't matter if we are running, if we are healing, if we are tumbling, if we are flying. Always, we are in a state of flux. Life can be measured at the end of the day, at the end of a month, or anywhere in between until the end of days. And in some situations, even beyond our lifetimes. But spending too much time evaluating yourself or someone else only hampers your own ability to live. That isn't to say that sometimes personal evaluation isn't needed. When life keeps pelting you with lemons and you cant seem to find a hand juicer or a lb of sugar, it might not be a bad time to take some time to think about how to change that (I found that a life like scare crow, dressed like me stood up inside an apple basket is a good way to get out of the line of fire and collect citrusy fruits while I get to wander the countryside searching for tools and sweetness works pretty well).

Walking is a great way to get your gears in motion. So if you are confused, do what we humans do best, walk it out. Your body in motion will satisfy your muscles need for exercise. As they are getting used, your mind can run wild to figure out whatever it is you can't seem to get. Also, you wont be standing still so people wont be bombarding you with "assistance" when all you need is some time to yourself.

Since we are on the topic of walking, lets go into the topic of Journey. Life, and you may have heard this, is a journey. A long process. A series of events that all flow together in a stream leading down to the vast collective of totality. The thing we might never recognize about life as a journey, is that the meaning of it comes after it is done. As much as you can set out on a task, with a definite objective in mind, more will happen to you than you expect. As much as we know at any given time there is always room to learn more. Since we have an infinite ability to expand our minds and firm our bodies we are infused with a desire to always move forward. We are not built to "move on," rather we a made to keep heading toward an excessive experience. That is to say we want to gain more understanding. We do this by getting out to join situations which teach us a better way to make connections of thoughts string together like cars on a train track. Witch each new burst of new data we gain track and/or cars. So the journey is a tool which we use to learn. And learning promotes growth.

So sitting at home alone is the best way to deny yourself what makes you as a human so special. Of course there are times when being stationary is best, but those times are always part of a healing process to prepare you to better work within the world. Just as you can't run until your broken bone is fixed, once it has mended itself you should get back outside. Like they say, you fall down so that you can learn how to get back up.

The key here, the key to life, is to live. The one part of life, the thing that makes us feel alive, is to experience our own victory over limitations. Be they placed upon us by others, the community, or by ourselves. There is no rush quite as liberating as winning a race. The only thing I can think of if winning a race after coming in second time and time again. There are times when there are people cheering us on, assured in our ability to get past the road blocks which have been piled up ahead of us. Other times you have to push yourself forward. Of course there are times when even though we push through the hardships to come out the other side there aren't people there to applaud your effort, but that doesn't mean that you didn't make it. It just means you did so well so fast that you hadn't realized you finished before the race actually started. In these situations you must be your own cheerleader. In the end its not that other recognizes your effort, but that you have surpassed your own ideals in a manner which prove to you your own worth as well as your ability to reach an insurmountable peak. That feeling of accomplishment is nothing that can be easily belittled as long as you are certain of your own ability. It is easier to see how much you have accomplished when others recognize it as well. But most people are wound up in their own effort that they don't always see what it right in front of them. So to live, to really live, is to life for yourself, to be proud of yourself, to honor and praise yourself for your accomplishments. In truth, you might be the only one who can see it. That way you validate your own life and strengthen your self image. Which in turn inspires people to live a little more. This is what makes horses run, dogs jump, and people sing.

A life lived is a life well lived, and life celebrated is the tangible proof that validates existence. A rowdy party is always fun. The memories of such examples prove your own worth. This is what helps us carry on into a new day, even if today is a shit storm, there is always hope that there might be something on the horizon that will make all the crap of yesterday worth it.

I have a few tips to help even the worst of times tolerable.

1. Smile - These are infectious. And even a fake smile can inspire a real one which comes back to you and brings the real thing back to you.
2. Greet People - There is no reason that we can't be friends. Sure, some people might not be the ones you want to spend your time with, but isn't it nice to have someone validate your existence by calling your out just to say "i see you there and I want you to know I do."
3. Slow Down - The majority of all displeasure comes from people being careless from being too singularly focused on efficiency. But all things which are efficient take time to put into place. These processes are often a slow moving progression towards a desired result. Most people get upset because of overt disinterest which causes machines (literally and metaphorically) to break down. As far as I can tell there are only two times when people need to be in a rush. These are matters of life or death. That is, getting wifey to the hospital so that she doesn't spout the new baby into the world in the back seat of the car without professional assistance or when pappy goes and accidently saws off a limb that just wont stop bleeding.
4. Listen - We have language to express ourselves in a way that others can understand. But half of understanding comes from speaking and half from listening. Hear out your fellow man, You never know what you might learn.
5. Get Involved - None of us can do it all on our own. So help someone. Lend a helping hand when you can, as you can. You can build a community to play with when you have a group all working together for one goal.
6. Express Yourself - If I have to explain this, then you haven't been paying attention in class. *throws a pice of chalk at you* Stand out in the hallway holding a bucket of water in each hand.

Breathe in. What do you taste? Breathe out, what do you feel? Breathe in. What do you see? Breathe out, what do you know?

Class is Dismissed