Love and Laughter ? Celebrating the Gift of Life

Only you can call me into aliveness. Each time you try to understand and because you really care, my heart begins to grow wings, very small wings, very feeble wings, but wings. With your sensitivity and sympathy, and your power of understanding, you can breathe life into me. ~ Charles C. Finn Life is our brief precious time to feel-to experience love, laughter, and wonder-to design and contribute our unique creations and expressions of who we are and what we want to leave behind.

I paused to think about this gift of life, mysterious and marvelous. Filled with roller coaster highs and lows, each moment of life is exhilarating.

Our living energy continuously moves and changes, always seeking increase and offering abundance. I asked, "How do I celebrate this precious gift of life?"

Here are ten ways I like to celebrate being alive.

Walking though nature, and noticing the perfection in each intimate landscape.

Going to special places that fill me with energy; allowing that energy to wash away negativity; simply being instead of wanting or doing.

Hiking up the trail to a mountaintop in summer; skiing down from a mountaintop in winter.

Looking through an album filled with photos of friends and the places we have traveled.

Doing a favor for someone I have never met and making a new friend.

Enjoying the company of friends and family; laughing together and exchanging jokes, stories, and experiences.

Looking into a starry sky and imagining just how far it actually reaches.

Sharing experiences, joys, hopes, and future dreams with a friend.

Fully experiencing each moment and its emotions; remembering that all emotions are part of being alive.

Giving thanks to the Creator for allowing me to live on this planet, for friends and family, and for a gift so complete and perfect as life.

There is a beautiful quote by Frederick Buechner: Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it, because in the last analysis, all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace. Allow your heart to grow wings. Savor every moment of life and reflect deeply on each experience. Celebrate the peaks and valleys. Become aware of the authentic joy that continually binds moment to moment, year to year, and generation to generation.

Most importantly, give life the best you have, and life will give its best back to you.

? Copyright by Steve Brunkhorst. Steve is a professional life success coach, motivational author, and the editor of Achieve! 60-Second Nuggets of Inspiration, a popular mini-zine bringing great stories, motivational nuggets, and inspiring thoughts to help you achieve more in your career and personal life. Get the next issue by visiting http://www.AchieveEzine.com