Born Avid

The purpose of this blog is to share the things I am avid about. 

There are a lot of those, because I was born 'avid'. I have noticed that it takes a fair amount of intention and effort on my part to satisfy my need to be engaged in things that I truly enjoy. In my opinion and experience, for those of the 'avid' temperament, it is actually necessary to be consciously seeking out this engagement. When I get lax about it, I feel like I am dying. This is not a figure of speech--it is descriptive, and, as I have learned, prescriptive.

The 'avid' temperament requires a pretty steady diet of stimulating new input, fascinating topics and activities, just as babies need certain nutrients in utero and in infancy to grow and thrive. One way I have learned to look at it is that avidity is an instinctive and totally ingrained refusal to leave the wonder and constant curiosity of childhood behind. When I have tried to rein it in, or 'act my age', I have succeeded only in cutting off the flow of circulation between my head, my heart, my gut, and the universe.

I have noticed that the people around me do not enjoy being around a half-dead person any more than I enjoy being myself when I feel like I am dying. Therefore, I have made up my mind that I will take the primary responsibility for the 'care and feeding' of my own avid spirit. No one else can discern what I need, and no one else can engage me in the things I need to do for myself in order to keep experiencing my life as avid and vivid. More on this anon ;->

So herewith my effort to share my voyage of discovery about living 'avid'.

Here are a few of my favorite things

Some of you may have been born avid, as I was. My hope in sharing some of the things I have found to be necessary nutrients for my avid spirit is that you will find and try some of these for yourself, and share with me some of the things you have found and tried that are spiritual nutrients for you.

1 ~ Music in and music out

I am not sure why, but in years past, I have considered listening to and making music as a kind of holiday treat or luxury--wonderful but optional. 

I have discovered that for me this is most decidedly not true. In my case, it is necessary for my health and sanity to listen to music of all kinds every day; not only that, but I must sing with it and dance with it as well. If I don't have any music to sing and dance with, I need to make up my own, and sing and dance with it. If I don't do this every day, I quickly shrivel up inside and lose my desire to go on living. Not pretty.

2 ~ Outdoor exercise

Due the necessity of ~1 above, I have formed the habit of seeking out and joining in with various exercise classes that involve movement to music. I try not to be too persnickety about it, because it is a deep need that I have learned I must attend to, so I get it wherever I can find it. However, not many dance or exercise classes are held outdoors. I must excercise outdoors every day, not just when the opportunity arises, or even just when I feel like it. 

The heartlifter that works for me is "Sunshine by nine". This means I get my body out the door by nine in the morning whether I feel like it or not, and whether the sun is visible or not. I know it's out there somewhere, and I know it's my job to take my body out the door and into nature somehow, even if I can only spare ten minutes. If I am in the middle of a concrete jungle, I will take the time to appreciate the weeds growing in leaf litter in the gutter or in the cracks of the pavement. It's out there, and I need it.

3 ~ Connecting with people

I hope you don't think that I am listing these in rank order. These three are all at the top of my survival list. I have tried living without, and I find I am endangering my wellbeing by skipping any of these for more than a day.

Probably all of us enjoy connecting with people who accept us and whom we accept. However, if the possibilities for this kind of encounter dwindles, there are two things I know I need to do right away, pronto. 

First, go to a place where there are lots of people: the supermarket, the mall, 'downtown', it really doesn't pay for me to get fussy about exactly where. Just do it. I learned this trick some years ago from an 88-year-old woman I was visiting, who asked me to take her down in the elevator to sit in the lobby for a while. She was nearly blind and mostly deaf, so at first I didn't really understand what this was about. She explained to me that she just liked to hear the sound of footsteps and voices, and I could see that ten or fifteen minutes of this really lifted her spirits.

Second, find a way to reach out and spend more time with the people I care about and who care about me, even if I am embarrassed or ashamed that I have let time go by and gotten out of touch for weeks, months, even years. It's my choice--which do I prefer, gradually drowning in my guilt? Or enduring the painful confession that I have neglected our bond and that I am ashamed of being so remiss? Which of these is likely to have the better outcome?

Yes, well, I too have had old friends and neglected relatives politely tell me they have no room in their lives for me due to my blantantly inconsiderate behavior. 

But much more often, I have had a warm welcome back into relationships that have grown cold due to my own mismanagement of my mouth, my time or resources. Nothing feels better than just facing up to it, and then taking what comes. Really, nothing.

I also have the choice to let certain relationships die a natural death and admit there was nothing I could do about them. But I have learned to grieve these small deaths and get on with relationships that could be living and breathing and life-giving again. 

When I was the delighted and fascinated owner of a wood-burning stove, I learned that all it takes is a small, gentle puff to discover whether coals can be rekindled or not. If they are dead, I get ashes in my face; if they are alive, they will start to glow and consume the dead ashes. I learned that live coals are always worth time and breath to get restarted, and I learned just how futile and choking the results of blowing repeatedly on dead coals. Worth remembering.

That's all for now -- time to go outdoors and take myself for a walk in Tropical Storm Sandy. 

What a gorgeous stormy day ;->

Avidly,

MiriAvid