I will not die an unlived life.
I will not live in fear
of falling or catching fire.
I choose to inhabit my days to allow my living to open me,
to make me less afraid,
more accessible,
to loosen my heart
until ... [more]

I will not die an unlived life.
I will not live in fear
of falling or catching fire.
I choose to inhabit my days to allow my living to open me,
to make me less afraid,
more accessible,
to loosen my heart
until it becomes a wing,
a torch, a promise.
I choose to risk my significacne:
to live so that which came to me as seed
goes to the next as blossom
and that which came to me as blossom, goes on as fruit.
fully alive- by dawna markova
"To laugh often and love much; to win the respect of intelligent persons and the affection of children; to earn the approbation of honest citizens and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to give of one's self; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exultation; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived - this is to have succeeded." Ralph Waldo Emerson

A human being is a part of the whole called by us "the universe," a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separate from the rest -- a kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening the circle of understanding and compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in it's beauty.

-- Albert Einstein
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