As important as the air that I breathe

[cinema_babe]

I gave myself 60 seconds to "List 10 Things I Cannot Live Without."

I know that, biologically at least, I could live without these things but they lie on that boundary between living and being alive and engaged for me. I have lived a dutiful life of mild satisfaction and it was, in its own way, a good life. But, I am challenging myself to live a life beyond the mild okay and be more fully engaged.

I want to feel my nerve endings twinkle and throb.

(These are in no particular order.)
1. Culture & Art (as I define it for me): movies, books, music, food, good whiskey and good wine, etc
2. A good sleep
3. Sunlight shining through jewel toned glass
4. Candle flame
5. The shore
6. Human contact (much more than I allow myself to have and more than I want to admit this occasionally, but I am getting better at this.)
7. Sensuality and Sexuality; That feel of laying flesh to flesh with another person)
8. 2:37 am
9. Computer technology and all it's assorted toys
10.Creating

Feel free to steal this and use it in your own blog if you like.

Comments

[onecrazymother.livejournal.com]

2:37 am?

[cinema-babe.livejournal.com]

I am, by nature, a night owl. Up until I went back to work, it wasn't unusual for me to be up until dawn. At 2:30 the world is a beautiful place to wrap myself in.

This is a snippet from a poem by Rilke, I'm not fond of this translation but it captures some of what I feel about 2:37am


To Say Before Going To Sleep

...I would like to be the only person
in the house who knew: the night outside was cold.
And would like to listen to you
and outside to the world and to the woods.

The clocks are striking, calling to each other,
and one can see right to the edge of time.
Outside the house a strange man is afoot
and a strange dog barks, wakened from his sleep.
Beyond that there is silence.

actually, I'm not sure why 2:37am popped into my head. It could just have easily have been 3:15 or 12:42.

[onecrazymother.livejournal.com]

ah...that I completely understand.

[savethewave.livejournal.com]

Exactly the same thing happened with me, post heart attack, then post divorce. These big life events let you know how precious life is.

[cinema-babe.livejournal.com]

You know it's funny. It seems cliche to me to say, "Since I survived this bout with cancer I'm going to go out and LIVE!" but in some ways that is what has happened. I'm still processing what cancer has meant in my life. Maybe I haven't made as much peace with this as I need to.

We should sit down over two *strong* espressos and talk about going eyeball to eyeball with mortality.

BTW: Thank you for your beautiful comments on my last post. I was going to respond but I figured that, since you might not see it, I would send an email instead. Alas, work has cut into my "Internet Slacking". I will write soon.

[savethewave.livejournal.com]

That is the same thing that happened to me. I thought, "hey I survived this! Why the hell am I still depressed and angry?" It took me almost four years to come to grips with things, then to get hit with the divorce...wham!

I agree. Grousing over our own mortality over some hyper-caffinated beverages sounds great.

You are very welcome. It's not very often that something I read gets me thinking like that. I could have easily commented on ever one of the 41 points you made, so affected by it I was.

Go figure.

[keryanna.livejournal.com]

I am inordinately fond of 2:37 am too.