The Thrill Of Life

Why do we lose that cheerful twinkle in our eyes and easy smile as we age, as well as forfeit our keen mental agility and creative muscle? Are these diminishing qualities nothing more than the unavoidable consequences of our atrophying instincts, and our bodies and minds slowly becoming depleted of life's vital energies? The answer is that advancing age often diminishes what in youth there was in abundance. Fortunately, unlike all other species, humans are able to put up the "good fight" and knock nature back on its heels. There is no doubt that improving the "quality" of our lives through proper diet, sufficient exercise, preventative health regimens, caring relationships, life-embracing worldviews, and intellectual stimulation can go a long way in keeping our mortal coffers overflowing with invigorating life-energy, even as the years pass.

For the exceptional individual, however, living a quality life has an even richer meaning than simply staying in good physical, emotional, and intellectual health. It also means learning how to create new avenues to a more thrilling sense of being alive, as well as cultivating deeper capacities for self-love, for loving other people, and for loving life itself. And what does "a more thrilling sense of being alive" mean to the exceptional individual? It means nothing less than to challenge heroically the natural limitations of the body, to intensify the capacity to feel the world around us, and to eradicate closed-minded thinking. With these self-liberations, the exceptional person is free to be "born again," and to relive with passion, the glories of youth.