In Living Colour (Reasons for Breathing)

Hey now, I am still standing. In this case, sitting - writing. Actually, I am sharing (smiles).

I hope you have been having some beautiful moments in your life. Experiences that leave you hopeful and some that shook things up. We need this to feel alive.

In Living Colour - Right here is not so much about finding a reason or a purpose to keep breathing. It is leaning on making a choice to live, period. If you are breathing, that is a reason to give it a go. People spend their time searching for their purpose, a reason to live by, of cause. I was once like that, in pursuit of that one thing. The hardest part about this search was that the more I searched for a purpose, the further away from it I felt. I think merely because I made a big deal of it in my head so much that I ended up staying in there for too long, looking. It can be a consuming thought that leaves you under pressure. To define a single goal to make it through the day can be far from you, to a point that you might as well forget about living at all. It would be just as another day in your couch or your favorite spot doing nothing, thinking. Another day passing by just as the last one did. Finding a purpose slowly becoming your purpose, not realizing that life is going on. Time keeps moving while you are in your thoughts, not really living them out.

A purposeful life I am finding has so much to do with knowing yourself, what you believe in and then incorporating those beliefs in your choices, in your everyday life. Even if you are a traveler, you can miss a lot if you are not really in it. You can fairly have no real experience that stole your heart. The scenery may be compelling, but so can a mind clouded by thoughts that something is missing. I have always known that I love sharing and that I love expressing through writing. I remember one of the quote I ever came up with was, “Stay Compatible with your Conscience”. I was probably on about being true to yourself. when this happened. It came to me a long time ago while chatting on Mxit or Mig33, one of the two. It was suggested I try Facebook, to my belief, as an encouragement for me to share my thoughts with the world, maybe. I did not even know what Facebook was at the time. I know it is not groundbreaking, but I believe it stayed with me that I have something worth sharing. I have been carrying this with me for a long time. I still did not ever think of actually indulging this way, but I kept sharing. I have been told that is like I do not even think twice when I share. That even if I try to reserve my thoughts and concerns, I eventually come out and share, somehow. However appalling and mistaken I may be in my sharing, I would find courage to go at it again. This is for me what I feel has to do with purpose. It is something that is part of your making. It would not be easy to be yourself if you are not doing it. Forces may pull you apart from it, but you would mend into a masterpiece. This is reason enough to keep breathing.

The real matter about this kind of distinctive qualities or attributes every single one of us have is whether we make a big deal of them. This can be by exposing and imploring them as our channeling. How we associate the value of our lives with this things that we are truly good at and find joy in, is what a life of purpose is about. How are you choosing to define your purpose? Did you decide that because what you are good at does not pay enough (if at all); therefore, it is not purposeful enough? Are you choosing to neglect your gifts because they take up too much time? Are you not sure about yourself? Maybe, too sure that it even scares you. Whichever it is for you, it is surely a reason for you to keep reaching so you can be in alignment with your life’s purpose.

Reasons for Breathing are not as obvious as most people think. At every stage of our lives, many colours are found. Dark, Dull and bright. You can have everything people think is reason enough to be full of life but have trouble living with yourself. Parents think their kids are reason enough and others believe a Lover is reason enough. Careers are in the list for some. Fame, their art and possessions. It is different for all of us. Having that one thing to believe in is really something. Some are still trying to find that one reason while some have a lot of them. To a sad reality, some have concluded there is not any.

You can have as many family members there for you, but if you are not making that choice to be present, to be happy and grateful inspite of "some off things" – mishaps, loss, bad turns; you will definitely not be able to see the worth of your life with them. Some people are so blessed, but have a hard time seeing it that way. You can see this by how they are just so dismissive. For obvious reasons here on earth, money can seem to be reason enough too. Blessed are those who have seen through what it cannot fulfill. All the money in the world but be so unhappy with everything it has helped you acquire. It still requires that you make a choice on how to best spend it, as it can buy what is often of temporary fulfillment and likely easy to blow it on things that are of no essence to your actual liking. No harm in that really, so long it is not your Master (Matthew 6:24). A purposeful life sometimes just needs a grateful heart. When you are grateful, you ease into life. This is what I keep trying to maintain with more than just words.

Life requires you be deliberate in your moves and be interested in it. It does not really owe you easy ropes for you to always hang-on-to. Some ropes tend to get loose and a fall becomes inevitable. Not strong enough, needing you to tie them tighter. For some, it is your grip that needs work. Some are not worth holding on to at all for you can end up entangled. Some are meant to dangle in your face as temptation for you to cross to a side you think you want to be in badly. The make of that rope is filled with many small strings (fibers) and it took time and a clear choice on how thin and thick it should be. It's texture was a choice. To use it can be a choice you make or a circumstantial one. Much like your life. You will always have a lot for you to choose from, even when circumstances force you to. Some choices will not be the best ones you make and you will need to recognize and let go. This is okay. Much like many investments, not all of them have expected rewards. The good thing is that you invested, you made a choice to invest/ and act on it. Best you keep at it.

This is why you must invest in Yourself, Your Gifts, Your Health, and Your Well-being. Life is there for the living. Having a life needs a heart willing to live it and a mind willing to grow/change while at it. You may fool the world trying to put up a front that you've got it, but life will always stare at you alone every single day to remind you that you aren't fooling yourself. Be true, be brave. Choose You. Face yourself; face this life as it comes. Take on your gifts earnestly. You deserve all the work there is to put in for your own progress. Hang on to your dear life!

Refinement throughout this month has shown me how much more spectrum there is to live a full life. It also showed me that no real work in fine-tuning oneself is ever done. You can surely embrace growth, but never think there is not more to discover about yourself, about your life and just life in general. To have reason(s) for breathing, you must be willing to live. Now live yours in all its colour. It matters, You Matter!

Romans 12:6-8

“In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. Therefore, if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.”

❤️LT