Life to Its Fullest

In my opinion, the biggest problem with our society today is that no one stops long enough to notice or appreciate anything. We are in such a hurry to live life to the fullest that we miss out on a lot of things in the process.
- my classmate Amanda, in her post yesterday, which, itself, was in response to Pam's post

Living life to its fullest: what does that really mean? I love that Amanda used this phrase in contrast with the idea of not missing out on things. Typically, the two ideas are synonymous these days, but I agree that maybe they shouldn't be.

For the past week in class, we've discussed Native perspectives on nature, the idea that "wilderness" was a European fantasy and that in Native reality, wilderness was simply here, the same as everywhere else. What we are often tempted to call Childlike Wonder, should simply be the way we see, shouldn't it?

Why, do you think, we call it Acting Like an Adult when we stop noticing the everyday miracles?

I think it's because we're trying to justify actions--ignorance--that we know are wrong. My goals for my life each day include finding time to see, time to simply be here, whether it's among trees or inside my house or on a city street. To work hard and enjoy my work. To notice the everyday miracles.

In depleting our lives of the constant (pointless) demands we somehow think are important, we can free up our lives, slow down the pace, and make the time to fill our lives with the wonder of what we have sadly stopped seeing all around.