The Depth Of Your Life

You’ll likely agree length is how long you’ve lived and height is what you have accomplished. That was easy, but none of your quick thoughts seem to fit the matter of depth.

Consider these examples: You think of wax as enhancing the depth of color of a car. Sunsets become more beautiful as their color deepens close to the horizon. The greater the depth of perception, the more effective the scene. Each of these smacks of greater intensity, heightened awareness of what is seen, heard, or felt.

Your life is no different. To be loved is the grandest feeling of belonging. To be asked is the grandest feeling of worth. To receive a passionate kiss is the grandest feeling of attraction. To arrive at the top is the grandest feeling of achievement.

How ironic, then, that when we use the three dimensions to define our lives, the depth of our experience is the first to be sacrificed at the altar of expediency, the first to be forgotten in our rush to embrace the latest technology, the first to be pushed into a dark corner as if it were an unimportant option.

Take a deep breath and reconsider.

How long you live, how high you rise above the mediocre, and all the accolades you receive pale and fall away when compared to the wonders found in the depths of the human experience — the catch in the throat, the tingle in the spine, the tears of joy that speak of the vibrancy to be found in this glorious experience we call life. There’s a feeling of invincibility as you allow yourself to relish utter happiness, bathe in the brilliance of your existence.

It’s almost beyond imagination how those moments can emerge so quickly and unexpectedly to create feelings like none other, times when there’s only one question to ask: If this isn’t it, then what is?

Music is among the most powerful stimulants for creating such feelings. It has the power to stir emotions so strongly you find yourself choking back tears. It invades every cell of your body, swings open the door to remembering the best times of your life. It makes you feel as if you are more than you are, more than what everyone imagines you to be. It can move you from the depths of sameness and drabness to the top of a spire from which you seem to hear all the soft whisperings of the world.

That’s when you discover the true depth of being alive, of appreciating the privileges life affords, of realizing you’re here for a purpose. You revere the present even if mist prevents you from viewing the future.

To discover the true depth of your life is also to discover the wonder of your life. You celebrate the fact you are here while possibly viewing your existence from a new perspective. The joy you feel comes from within the privacy of your inner being where only you laugh, cry, and celebrate. Everything else, even if stripped of all its relevancy, is no longer important.

This isn’t nonsense from a dream in the middle of the night or words written to simply fill a page. To the contrary, this identifies and explains what you likely have never thought about. You have been smothered by priorities originating from outside entities that are neither qualified nor have the right to direct how you think and live.

Still unsure or confused? Then give yourself this treat: Get the “Eden” CD by Sarah Brightman, one of the world’s finest singers. Shut out the rest of the world, then sit and listen. After you’ve heard all of it, read this column a second time . . . . .

. . . . . and you’re likely to never be the same again.

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