While on an Alaska cruise, I stood at the rail of our ship gazing out at the glorious Glacier Bay. Meanwhile the ship’s naturalist offered a narrative explaining the many fascinating elements of nature before us. “Some people criticize those of us who spend a great deal of time in nature. They say we are here to escape from life. But I think we are here to keep life from escaping from us.”

Take a few moments to consider where life is and how we might be allowing life to escape from us. We may believe we are in life, running to and fro, attending to an endless series of errands, handling emergencies and dramas, spending most of our time putting out fires. Yet there is far more to life than damage control. The real purpose of life is to feel a sense of joy, exhilaration, appreciation, and celebration. If that feels farfetched to you, perhaps life has escaped you. Perhaps you have gotten so caught up in the doingness of life that you have let beingness slip away. Perhaps it is time to reclaim your life.

I am grateful for the extraordinary technology that allows us to communicate with just about anyone anywhere. We live in an amazing, exhilarating world. Yet if you become addicted to technology to the point that you cannot feel your spirit and cannot imagine how you would live without it, technology ceases to enhance your life and it starts to diminish it.

Consider getting away from it all, even for brief periods. Take a walk in the park for an afternoon or go for a ride in the country for a day, and leave your cell phone home.  Take weekends off from email.  Leave your laptop home when you go on vacation. You may discover intriguing and stimulating people, places, and experiences available to you that you do not need an electrical outlet to sustain.

The life that created you lives within you. It is right where you are, reaching out to live through you. Don’t escape from life. Dive into it.