Sobriety

Life in all its wondrous intensity is best savoured sober.

It is best responded to in a clear headed state.

It is intoxicating enough without the cloudiness of indulgence getting in the way.

It is a matter of life and death every moment and should be addressed with the utmost presence.

I am a sentimental fool by inclination, which can make my living rather romantic. I can see life in rosy hues and seek to do so.

I catch myself injecting legend into every encounter, either positive or negative, with a hunger for the former and default propensity for the latter. It can make for a distorted and unnecessarily rocky ride, plus it is unrealistic.

There is nothing lacking in the real. Romanticising it arises from an egoic need to add personal significance to the story, when there is no need for personal significance or story.

Life is whole, complete and total. As you become conscious of the urge to enhance it, the fictitious and dramatic self subsides, which allows life to reveal its true nature.

Life is clean and crisp, not drugged and drowsy. It is vast and open, yet full.

You are in it but not of it, looking down like the sky while walking barefoot in the sand. When you are aware of the transcendent and the tactile at the same time, life is both overwhelmingly fulfilling and distantly detached. Life is beautifully balanced.

As you mature, your need to sedate or stimulate your experience should subside. To make the most of your living opportunity, grow in presence and let life be what it is.

Stay sober and relish in consciousness all that life has to offer.