Do you want to be here?

There is a therapist who conducts workshops and I have found one of her methods quite potent. Imagine standing behind a line in a world that represents a time before you were born.

All you have to do is take one step across that line and you enter the life you are currently living.

Do you take the step or not?

This little exercise reveals if you want to be here, living your own life. There is a hefty list of reasons why one may have hesitation or flat-out resignation. But, if you’ll allow it, can we consider one ingredient causing the pause to take the step?

Beauty plays a crucial role in your desire to be here. There are two interesting traits about this idea. One, subjectivity is elemental. It is non-negotiable. Second, your range matters. The broader your signal, the more beauty you can spot.

Here is one way to digest this: If being here feels like too much and if you find that are having a hard time taking the blows of life, if the trapdoors of this reality keep tripping you up, then it might be time to double down on beauty.

You have agency in this quest. Beauty comes alive with your own personal interests. The well-orchestrated back-door cut with a crisp bounce pass finished off with a reverse layup to use the rim against the defender may bring you back to beauty. The tribal drums that put you into a state of flow while you do the dishes may bring you back to beauty. Going to a group meeting where people share the same battle and don’t hold back with any false language may bring you back to beauty. Trusting yourself to start that business even with the massive amount of uncertainty underlying the whole project may bring you back to beauty. Reading poetry from your home country under the soft November light in the corner reading nook of the living room while your kid naps may bring you back to beauty. Switching careers at mid-life even though nobody else thinks it makes sense may bring you back to beauty.

With beauty, form is less important than function. With beauty, your existence feels legitimate and the feeling of being cut off begins to fade. It is what helps you say “yes” and step across the line.