Living Each Day to the Fullest

Every day I wake up bursting with excitement at the thought of all the wonderful things I will do: the way I will  energise my body, the great work I will produce, the interesting conversations I will have, the good ideas I’ll read, think & write about, the music I will listen to, the food I will cook & indulge in, the entertainment I will enjoy, the soothing yoga session and … everything else.

Throughout the day I get occasional spurs of thrills as exciting ideas invade my mind. In my eagerness to undertake and achieve, I get so easily excited when I let my imagination fill my mind with things I will embark on or simply enjoy. Sometimes, I find myself trying to control the avalanche of such thoughts.

I’ve fallen in love with this life since I set my mind free. I stopped confining my mind to the limits of my time and it ran away hungrily looking for the things whose undertaking I denied the luxury of contemplating. After all, the years in which my controlling disciplined-self attempted to ration the use of time to routine things with immediate outcome, my mind was now liberated and able to explore. And it went in all directions! After the quest, my mind became ecstatic. It brought back a rush of interests, most of them unrelated, as if trying to compensate for the prolonged time-bound captivity and purpose-maximising confinement. The latter, I must admit, have not always been genuine consequences of the obsessive pursuit of optimal use of time, but also excuses for mental and physical idleness. One must have stemmed from the other.

But, no more! I am now free to be interested and to create. It’s has been an amazing journey of self-discovery. Who would have thought that I could get excited about so many different things? Or that I could actually carry out some of them? Projects. Personal ones. It’s a blessing to have them. They keep my mind occupied, stimulated with discovery and trained with learning. They fill my emotional state with the thrill of personal creation.

Since I opened my mind and with it, my heart, I discovered that I enjoy writing, experimenting with food, knitting, growing plants, picking wild fruit, learning new languages, and  … even watching TV shows (which my previous self would have ruled-out as time-wasters). They’re all simple things, but since I let my imagination roam, they’ve materialised themselves into parts of who I am. They fuel my mind with passion and keep me going through the routine and the tedious. They’re spikes of enthusiasm which tune in when energy runs low.

I take great inspiration from people that dare to pursue their interests and even create business ventures out of them. I devour TV shows that promote personal projects and entrepreneurship: Grand Designs, Amazing Spaces, Dragons Den, The Apprentice etc. – they fill my heart with admiration and my mind with the desire to create. One man created a house out of recycled tyres, another one, a painting & recording studio out of a shed with a veggie allotment on the roof. I admire these people who are on a mission to think differently, to explore and experience, to carve out their thoughts.

In a similar fashion, I am in awe of up-and-coming artists. Music is a great example where an underdog just makes a breakthrough. I often get blown away by a song from an artist who becomes no. 1 in popular charts overnight. I often think of such creators as sitting in their lonely studios, humble before the power of their thoughts, but focused and working tirelessly, fuelled by the fervour of their creation and their faith in the quality of their work.

It’s so easy nowadays to close off our minds and just consume ready-made things. Why deny ourselves the right to pursue, experience and create? Remember to keep an open mind and nurture your creative potential, because that’s where you’re energy and passion for life will stem from.

Every night I go to bed with the excitement of the next day. Only one sleep before I get to carry on with things from where I left them. Pursue my interests again. And more. Maybe I’ll come up with new things that my mind, body & soul will want to indulge in. Thoughts roam and roam and with them, thrills, energy, passion and life. Go on, fill your daily life with joy and personal glory.