Life is a verb. Yes, that’s the title of a book I came across today. Yesterday, a romantic novel I was reading had the hero saying : My work is not a noun. It’s a verb.
Life Is A Verb
A verb – an action word. While I’m all for reflection and mindfulness, I’m also certain that we were made for action.
Life is a verb
So hard to describe
It calls us to act
Urges us to strive
To move out of ourselves
And reach out to touch
Others who need us
So very much
If you don’t act
You might as well be
An unused bicycle
Lying by the sea.
It upsets me a great deal when I interact with people who seem to have an BTDTGTTS (Been There Done That Got The T-Shirt!) attitude. How did they lose their sense of awe? Why do they seem so bored? What made them lose their sense of curiosity? Will this disinterest in life keep them from reaching out to others?
Boredom is a selfish act. Be curious. – Patti Digh
I also notice that some of don’t want to own our feelings – especially the ‘bad’ ones – anger, frustration, grief, etc. We don’t want to own that we were often let down by our own people. We refuse to show that side of us that cries out to be understood, to be loved for who we are. We put a lid on these feelings and put on a great facade. If we believe that life is a verb, we must embrace it with both hands. Take ownership of every feeling. Be moved by our deepest desires. Act upon our dreams.
When we come to the end of each day we should be able to say:
Today, we have been nourished with an awareness or our own life. We have felt happiness and sadness, jubilation and despair, realization and wonder, and with each thought, God has made us more alive. Today God has showered us with grace and we have again been recreated into who God intends us to be.
#FridayReflections
If you are new to Friday Reflections, here’s what it’s about. It’s the end of the week, you’re probably exhausted with work, and all you want to do is sit back, put your feet up, sip on some fancy cocktail or wine, and write away.
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We have a picture prompt for this week :
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I’ve seen that people who age well, into their 70’s, 80’s and beyond, have not lost that sense of awe. Nor do they sit still, even if they are frail of body. The true message of a bicycle, I think, is that a bicycle can not act on its own. It is passive, until someone rides it. Likewise, we can not be passive in our own lives. We must seek out experience, even if it is the experience of reading a good book or listening to an audiobook. As long as we are of sound mind, we must appreciate the world around us.
That’s so true about life. It’s about us ultimately how we take up- brood over things or make the most of what we have and when we go to bed each day, it should be a life worth lived
I liked the idea of cycle lying by the sea side in context of your post. And to further that thought, I would say, if it lays there by sea side all the while, it will erode and perish. Better take control of life and paddle ahead maintaining the balance all the while. Life would be worth lived then!
– Anagha From Team MocktailMommies
Life is indeed a verb. It must be ‘lived’. Beautiful!
I agree life is a verb. If you do not act then you perish. There is always a need to keep your mind, body and energy to keep in sync so you maintain a balance.
That’s a lovely prompt– off to write about it this weekend !
Love the thought here Corinne; yes we will perish if we dont act on our feelings- good or bad!! Bottling them up is akin to ignoring them and leads to depression or self destruction! If we need to move forward, we need to live to the fullest and that means acting on everything that we feel!
I love the picture used for the prompt. There’s something so adventurous about taking off on a bicycle! Like you, I really wonder how people get bored when there’s so much to explore in life. I believe that it is the childlike curiosity in us that needs to be nurtured all along even as we grow old.
That’s such a wonderful thought, Corinne! Embrace every feeling , every thought that finds its way into our mind and at the end of the day thank God for helping us inch closer to the version we were intended to be!
I have heard of this concept and I love how you related it to the picture. I’ve heard of how rather than calling yourself a ‘writer’ it should be about ‘writing’ so basically it’s all about the doing as opposed to the noun. And yes, in that sense, life is about living. 🙂