Deep-Water Living

So many people choose to live their lives in the shallow waters, never venturing out deeper where  faith, hope,love, commitment, courage, growth, challenge & everything that pushes a human to live as more are found. Going further & deeper helps us to grow up.  But it’s as if some feel more comfortable without the weight of too much emotion, the increasing burdens often fraught in real human entanglements & the messiness of growing up. They want to have fun, to enjoy life, to focus all their energy on whatever it is that brings them money, fame, power, joy or some other outer-body measure sans the hassle of going deeper & further. So they choose to make a life without any challenge to their spirit or soul. They learn to live so singularly for themselves that they don’t even see those choices, that reticent need to stay comfortably where they are & to not grow up, as narcissistic, selfish & self-involved. If we don’t allow ourselves to claim responsibility for our own messes, to feel for others compassionately, to entangle ourselves in the messes of life & to grow up through the challenges we have opportunity to take on, we never become much of anything in the world but an aging shell of a human being. As the noted poet Maya Angelou has said: “Most people don’t grow up. Most people age. They find parking spaces, honor their credit cards, get married, have children, and call that maturity. What that is, is aging.” Human beings are called upon to develop, not just physically, but also to mature emotionally & spiritually. What a shame to be so one-dimensional that we might focus all our energy on just staying happily in the shallow waters, never venturing out to where the real challenges of life might take us nor appreciating that great strength when we do find it in ourselves or when we see it in others! Taking the easy way isn’t necessarily taking the best way. And often times, staying where we’re comfortable means we miss more of what we could never even imagine in the way of true joy, inner peace & burgeoning self-esteem!