What a wonder it is just to be alive, more remarkable still to be aware of this and to wonder what might be the meaning of life?

As endless reflections of consciousness becoming conscious of itself there are as many meanings as there are makers of meaning. Perceived by the perceiver, these ever-changing ripples of reality and perception shift instant by instant, uniquely filtered and distilled.

Even if you know what I mean, you’ll never really know my meaning, for no two of us live the same life. Many may have had a moment of ‘no-one understands me’ and on one level we are right, yet this is only a tiny fraction of the picture. The little surface me, the flesh-bound layer of self-consciousness. The part of us that is easily wounded, critical, anxious and needs to be right. This is the layer where life happens to us, our actions and reactions driven by fear. It is easy to be held here on the surface, so compelling our storylines, so persistent our thoughts.

For me, the meaning of life is to wake up to the wonder of life beyond meaning and experience the wonder it is just to be alive. With this human equipment it is so easy to forget ourselves, lost in the maze of the mind, so we are here to remember why we are here. This can be seen with the naked eye when the eye is truly naked. Grasped only when we stop grasping. In our search for meaning we can get in our own way, for searching is doing and defining is confining.

When we awaken to the brilliance of our being, so much vaster and greater than the smallness of any thought, we wake up to the true meaning of all meaning. The solid reveals itself as spacious and fear gives way to love. We experience the energy of life flowing through us and in this eternal moment we join the dance. No longer the spectator or commentator we step into our true nature. The emptiness that propelled our search for meaning, that hungered all of our wanting, once realised becomes wholeness. The need for meaning satiated by knowing who we really are. Laughing and crying at the same time, just because, feeling the full contradicted contrast of things. Two opposing truths, both true at the same time; wholeness and emptiness, darkness and light experienced together as one, no beginning, no end, just now.

While we are here, we are here to be here fully, to have a direct experience of life. Indirectly experienced meaning holds no meaning. Even the most vivid of imaginations cannot summon up a taste without lips and a mouth and taste buds. If no taste had ever been tasted before, the sensation of dripping juice, the essence from ripened fruit, is just meaningless. Yet to you and I, to us who know, we know, without words as signposts or pale imitations of the truth. Sweetness only sweet through direct experience and contrast of the sour. Together we can sip on the full flavour of life, whilst catching fleeting glances of ourselves in the mirror of awareness along the way.

How would it be if I had never had feet that touched the earth, that walked and ran and leaped in exploration? If I never had this body to feel and to touch, to move and express, to hear the beauty of birdsong and look up towards the sky? If I had never had the chance to live and love and be loved and lost? To be here, to create, to play, to learn, to grow. Then to unlearn, unfold and to let go, surely this is what gives meaning to everything and to every nothing?

In life we eat the sun, turning our many faces towards it to feel the light. Until breath, the thin layer of separation between inside and out, between living and dying, here and there, falls away. And the ripples of an endless echo find no surface on which to bounce. The roar of the wave of all things crashes without crashing and we become the light once more.

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~Frances Trussell is a lover of life, passionate about helping people awaken to the happiness that lives within them. Frances is founder of ‘Mindfully Happy’ and has taught mindfulness meditation to many hundreds of people in the UK. Her mission is to make mindfulness accessible to all, she advises to TV and media and appears as guest speaker at events across the charity, school and public sectors as well as in the corporate world. Her experience has taught her that whatever stage we are in life, or however we define ourselves, we all face the same human challenges and can help ourselves to have a richer experience through mindfulness. She is a pioneer of Mindfulness based Therapy in her 1-1 work, transforming clients quickly to overcome fears, anxiety and depression so they can be more present in their lives. Her first book ‘You Are Not Your Thoughts; The Secret Magic of Mindfulness’ is published by O’Books is available Amazon.
www.francestrussell.com

Excellence Reporter 2018 ©Frances Trussell