“Well the word that comes to my mind is…thrive” my friend throws out during one of our weekly check-ins. We had been talking about how we and those we knew were always in this place of “just getting by” in our respective lives. Then he hits the nail on the head. He goes for it all – “what would it be like to thrive?”
I could feel a shift in me simply hearing the word as it penetrated my ear. I repeated the word back to him and experienced that same feeling again. A feeling of power. Something positive and actionable. Whole shit! He was on to something.
So of course this got me thinking about why I don’t use this word more – in my work and in my life. Why I hear so much about “sustainable” practices and not how we can have “thriving” practices or lives. Is it me or is this a collective thing? Have we given up on a life better lived?
When we thrive, we operate from a place of openness and kindness. We are no longer weighted down by fear or anger; the drivers behind so much of our modern strife. We see the world as bountiful with opportunity. There is enough for both you and me. We are energized. The grip of stress, which causes our dis-ease, let’s go allowing us to breath and circulate. When we are thriving, there is no more need for disconnecting or numbing out. We want to be connected and alive.
So with so many potential benefits, one would wonder why we don’t hear the word more. It is probably a mind shift that has to take place at the level of I – as in “I have to use the word to describe my work and my life”. If in fact we are what we think, the inclusion of the word thrive would be a practice worthy of serious contemplation.
As we wrapped up our call, I thanked him for the insight. It was another rich conversation leaving both of us with something to ponder. As I disconnected the call, the following thought was present for me about my life – thinking sustainable is in many ways, unsustainable – in that it could never give me the dynamic, rich life I seek.
Ten Graces, LLC 