Not that Liver.

I’m not talking about your physical Liver.

I’m talking about your Liver! That essential part of your internal emotional and psychic construction which, when it is up and running, healthy and strong, has the potential to ensure that you are a man fully alive.

How alive are you?

This is the main question. 

“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.”

In other words, most of us are not living fully. Instead, we are anxiously watching our own lives from the sidelines.

(Not good!)

You’ve seen this yourself. Some of your friends — when you look at their life — you think: “Come on, man. Get your sh*t together!” You may even be thinking the same thing about yourself, sometimes, when you look in the mirror.

This feeling of disappointment about the way your life is unfolding was just as true almost a hundred years ago when Henry David Thoreau wrote the words above, about “the mass of men,” as it is today. Thoreau saw the same problem you and I still see: many men (maybe sometimes, ourselves) are just going through the motions — without really living a life they can be happy or proud of. They have a Liver problem.

Say it.

Do I mean say it out loud?

Yes. I mean say it out loud. Actually speak these words into the universe:

I want to be fully alive!

Or some such thing. Put this wish into your own words, if you like. You’ve probably thought something like this a hundred times already this week, in many different iterations, but I’ll bet you haven’t said it out loud, even once.

So yes, say it. Because, as you already know, the first step to make significant change is to acknowledge the problem.

So — 

If you want to actually do something about your desire for more vitality, it’s going to take more than some casual thought at the back of your mind at the end of a long day. It’s going to take expressing the thought, as a first step.

Why?

Because you listen to yourself more than you generally acknowledge. When your inner voices are saying things like, “You idiot.” or worse, you listen to yourself. Literally hundreds of messages, most of them negative, bombard you every day. And the enemy is within, so it’s difficult to defend yourself.

So —

A strong dose of positivity is warranted, when it comes to changing the tide toward a life more filled with — well, life!

Whenever we get together here, in these posts, to share ideas, there will be concepts to notice and put to good use. Here is one of those teachable moments.

You’ve heard this old saying: 

Give me a fish, I eat for a day. Teach me to fish, I eat for a lifetime.

Notice that in order to make something real, and therefore attainable in real life, it is essential that you get an idea, even a great idea, out of your head and into the real world. Otherwise, it remains just an idea, not fully realized.

Here is one example of that. When you have the thought inside your brain, or the feeling somewhere in your body, that “I want to be fully alive,” that is good.

But that thought or feeling, as good as it is, will not become a reality until you express it in the real world. In this case, I suggested that you say what you want out loud; that you speak it into existence.

There are other ways to express thoughts and feelings outside of one’s self, other than speaking them. Another method you might try is to write down that thought or feeling, so you can see it.

The point is to express yourself in the real world, if you want a thought or idea to become a reality. 

Let’s get started.

Here’s the next step. As good as it is to express an idea, it’s going to take more than just saying or writing down, “I want to be fully alive!”

Those words, while they are an essential first step toward moving out of your lethargy and into action, are only a beginning. Depending on what level you have descended to, what level of “not aliveness” you are currently experiencing, you may want to express those words more than once over the next few days.

But at some point, action will be required.

You may have gone into your closet, or sat out there in your car, or walked to a private part of the park to say The Words. And then, as you are expressing this idea, you may at some point hear yourself saying:

“Okay. I want more out of life. But what must I do?”

And that will be the time for action. Have you ever run a marathon? Or contemplated or embarked upon a long ride on your bicycle? Or any other daunting task like that? If so, then you know how important it is to start out slowly, so you don’t hurt yourself.

Begin with something small.

It could be almost anything, as long as it is meaningful.

For example: If your metabolism isn’t quite what it used to be, but you still eat a bowl of ice cream every night, you might want to think about not eating that ice cream tonight. That one small thing might nudge you in the direction of feeling better in your body tomorrow, and thus feeling more alive; one small glimpse of what you want more of.

Regular exercise is always helpful. And you don’t have to suddenly go out there and run five miles, especially if you haven’t been running for awhile. A simple walk would be a step (pardon the pun) in the right direction.

The takeaway:

Take better care of your Liver! Begin today. Reclaim your natural desire to be a man — fully alive. Say it! Then start with some small action in the right direction, to make your idea real.

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