{"id":1763,"date":"2011-05-08T13:33:06","date_gmt":"2011-05-08T18:33:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.womens-spirituality.com\/?p=1763"},"modified":"2011-05-08T13:33:06","modified_gmt":"2011-05-08T18:33:06","slug":"awareness-is-the-key-to-living-full-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.womens-spirituality.com\/?p=1763","title":{"rendered":"Awareness is the key to living full lives. . ."},"content":{"rendered":"

I read a wonderful little book yesterday by David Foster Wallace. \u00a0The title is This Is Water<\/strong><\/em>. \u00a0It’s one of those special little books that takes a hold of you and doesn’t let go. \u00a0It’s actually a commencement address that Mr. Wallace gave at Kenyon College in 2005. \u00a0He begins with a simple story about two young fish swimming along and an older fish swims by and says, \u00a0“Hello. How’s the water?” \u00a0After swimming on a bit, one fish looks at the other and says, “What’s water?” \u00a0The message, of course, is that we don’t actually see what’s all around us. \u00a0We live unseeing, unconscious, unaware lives.<\/p>\n

The question I have for you is are you simply passing time in this life or are you showing up fully to the people and the circumstances on your path? \u00a0Are you allowing your life to be touched by all that is happening around you? \u00a0It would enrich you. \u00a0For sure.<\/p>\n

As Wallace points out in his little book, we seldom know the back story of any one we see at the grocery or on the highways of life but we pass judgment any way. \u00a0What if we did know their stories or what if we did, for just a moment, imagine that we knew them. \u00a0Would we look at all of these people differently? \u00a0It’s his supposition that we would. \u00a0I’m inclined to agree.<\/p>\n

It doesn’t matter if we know the real story, however<\/strong><\/em>. \u00a0What we do know is that every one is worthy of our kind attention and our hope for their well-being. \u00a0Mother Theresa expressed it well when she said, and I paraphrase, be kind to every one and start with the person standing next to you<\/em>. We are all deserving of an interested witness to our lives. \u00a0And we are all living lives that deserve our full attention. \u00a0Not seeing what we are living “within or among,” means we aren’t living lives that are attached to the only moment we truly have: now<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The opportunity we have is to become the wise, older fish at any moment. \u00a0We can know what we are swimming through. \u00a0We can know the questions to ask our companions. \u00a0We can see all that’s around us to see. \u00a0And we can be grateful for and present to the opportunity of knowing every one’s story in the only way that really matters: we are all human beings living spirited filled lives. \u00a0Acknowledging this affirms the spirit every where.<\/p>\n

Are you seeing what’s really there to be seen today? \u00a0You can begin now.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I read a wonderful little book yesterday by David Foster Wallace. \u00a0The title is This Is Water. \u00a0It’s one of those special little books that takes a hold of you and doesn’t let go. \u00a0It’s actually a commencement address that Mr. Wallace gave at Kenyon College in 2005. \u00a0He begins with a simple story about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4,12,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-circle-of-family-and-friends-you-and-your-personal-community","category-what-i-believe-you-and-your-higher-power","category-your-experience-strength-and-hope"],"yoast_head":"\nAwareness is the key to living full lives. . . | Karen Casey<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.womens-spirituality.com\/?p=1763\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Awareness is the key to living full lives. . . | Karen Casey\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I read a wonderful little book yesterday by David Foster Wallace. \u00a0The title is This Is Water. \u00a0It’s one of those special little books that takes a hold of you and doesn’t let go. \u00a0It’s actually a commencement address that Mr. Wallace gave at Kenyon College in 2005. \u00a0He begins with a simple story about […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.womens-spirituality.com\/?p=1763\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Karen Casey\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-05-08T18:33:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"karencasey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"karencasey\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.womens-spirituality.com\\\/?p=1763#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.womens-spirituality.com\\\/?p=1763\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"karencasey\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.womens-spirituality.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/be42ec49697eba07d84ddf86ace97639\"},\"headline\":\"Awareness is the key to living full lives. . .\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-05-08T18:33:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.womens-spirituality.com\\\/?p=1763\"},\"wordCount\":450,\"commentCount\":2,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.womens-spirituality.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Circle of Family and Friends - 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