I watched an interview this morning that blew me away. His name was Vishen Lakhiani and he spoke of a new way to think. My mind did a hard-brake redirect when I heard him say something I’d heard countless times before:

“We are souls having a human experience.”

My immediate thought was “No“.

No, we’re not, that’s the problem.

We’ve learned to surround ourselves with things that numb our ability to experience being human. We have Facebook and Twitter, alcohol, cigarettes, shopping, drugs, busy-ness and the always favorite chasing of the mighty dollar. We don’t take the time to experience most of what life has for us because that shit hurts.

So the wonderful brains we have that are made to keep us safe and pain free take advantage of all the numbing agents available.  We keep our faces on our phones, our computers, in our glasses and keep busy tallying the bottom line. We punch a clock, make ends meet, dream of the weekend and spend it dreading Monday.

What a horrifying waste of living.

He spoke of a new way of goal-setting, a very personal approach. Three questions to ask ourselves. What experiences to we want to have? How do we need to grow to have those? When all is said and done, how can we give back to the world as this wonderful, authentic, full of life individual we’ve become? A bit paraphrased, but you get the gist of it.

We need to re-humanize ourselves.

All we have is now, and we spend it worried and anxious. What got us here won’t get us there. How can we be more present now? Have fun with what’s happening now and enjoy ourselves? What are we grateful for no matter what our minds are telling us we don’t have?

I think we need to lose the things we use to numb us to our experiences of our lives. What do we believe, what are we doing, what are we giving? How can we make our lives more creative and fun? What can we do to make our lives more passionate, giving and loving?

We focus so much on ourselves when we could honor our souls by sending it outward on who we can serve, uplift, teach and comfort. Every spark we light in another’s heart causes a bonfire in our own.

We have the capacity for more than we are offering to the world.

We don’t know when the silken thread of our lives will be cut. We have a limited amount of moments to enjoy, offer kindness, show compassion and leave the world better for our having been here.

Lay all the bullshit down, my friends. There is no short cut to living an awe-inspiring life.

There is no app for that.

I love you.