Now is A Good Time to Celebrate Being Alive

This week, as I was thinking about what Halloween means to me this year, something kept bringing me back to the idea of celebrating what it means to be alive. You might be thinking, What does this even mean?

We’re breathing & we’re here

I think part of the reason I got here is because we are in the time of year when“the veil thins”. This is a time when we collectively recognize death and the spirit world. We recognize that there are souls on the other side and yet also that those souls are still with us. This might be a time when we honor lost loved ones or people who we really miss.

So with that, I want to suggest that this is also a poignant time to consider what it means to, well, not be dead. This may sound kind of morbid, but hear me out.

The reality is that we’re here and we’re not dead. Rather, we are definitively and divinely alive. Even if we’ve gone through tough things, even if we thought our world was going to break open, even if we’ve gone through significant health concerns… we’re still here and we’re still alive. Even the people whom we have loved and lost, who now reside on the other side, would want us to live to the fullest extent.

One way to celebrate our aliveness is through the breath. This is the gift of life, the breath. And when we die, we won’t breathe anymore. So let every breath be a reminder of the fact that you are still alive. Sit with your breath for a moment and perhaps you might tap into some gratitude for your breath and all the energy and aliveness it brings to your body.

Cannabis for enhanced aliveness

Now, speaking of living things, I also want to bring cannabis into this celebration and discussion. When I think about cannabis, why I love it, and why we celebrate it, I actually relate it to aliveness. Because I think cannabis helps us celebrate and even enhance our aliveness. 

First of all, we can use cannabis to help us maintain wellness, health, and balance. By way of enhancing and massaging the endocannabinoid system, we can use cannabis for resiliency and enhanced health and well-being.

We can use cannabis and/or CBD in our moments of self-care. Whether it’s an intentional moment smoking alone, a CBD rub, or a cannabis bath bomb, cannabis can help us enhance those moments where we are pouring into ourselves. 

But we can also lean into cannabis to just have a little bit of fun! It is A-OK to do something just because it feels good and helps us lean into fun and play. Especially when we keep this in balance with all of life’s other demands and seasons.

Tonight, on Halloween, we’re likely to gather among friends. Perhaps some of us will consume some cannabis. For those of us who do decide to imbibe, I hope cannabis can help us connect, laugh, and celebrate familial closeness and/or the bonds of friendship.

Whatever it means to you, my hope is that you will continue to use cannabis in such a way that enhances your aliveness.

A question to ponder

To close, I wanted to share a quote that a friend recently shared with me. I think this gives us even more context on what it means to be fully and truly alive. Here it is: 

To live is it the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all. -Oscar Wilde.

I’m curious, what does this quote bring up for you? Reflect for a moment on what this stirs in your psyche. Because this is an even deeper look into what it means to be truly alive. 

So, I ask you. Are you merely existing, or are you truly living? What would it take for you to live life to its fullest extent?

Let’s lean into our fullest aliveness. Let’s celebrate our health, pleasure, and fun! Let’s bask in what it means to be alive! During times of turbulence, when we are reminded that tomorrow is never promised, we ought to know and love the gift of today.