Do you own your life or does life own you?
I often feel caught up in this machine called life. Life owns me when my schedule is fast and hectic, when I’ve got five things on my to-do list and five minutes to do them, when I “drop the ball” and miss things, when I fall into habits that aren’t good for me, and more.
I’ve been pondering the question lately, how can I own my life more fully, more vibrantly? I love the ending of Mary Oliver’s “When Death Comes”:
When it’s over, I want to say: all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.When it is over, I don’t want to wonder
if I have made of my life something particular, and real.
I don’t want to find myself sighing and frightened,
or full of argument.I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world.
And, I don’t want to allow my life to own me. I don’t want the crazy, fast-flowing currents of my life to define where my life goes. I’ve tried many techniques to own my life. I’ve taken many classes. I’ve read a bunch of books.
And then I find a poem, and learn there’s a key that opens the door to a different life: amazement.
It’s not about a major remodeling of my life so that I tear down walls and buy new furniture. It is about seeing my life through a lens of appreciation. It’s about owning the gifts, the failures, the dreams, and the relationships that are woven into it all.
It’s about dropping into the here and now and owning this moment with all of its fullness.
What’s a small step today that will help you take the world into your arms?