HOW’S YOUR APPETITE?

There is no passion to be found playing small–in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living. ~Nelson Mandela

I was a hungry kid. Hungry for life. I wanted to taste it all; absorbed everything like a sponge. Enough was never enough.

I believed that life wanted the same from me. When I did something I threw myself into it…all the way to the moon and back.

Later on I learned what it is to lose an appetite; to feel like my plate was overflowing and to selectively, bit by bit, withdraw from decadence. In that essential, fundamental existence, my world became very small and—so I thought—safe, sane, manageable. The simple life was surprisingly filling; a profoundly meaningful time of fine-tuning my palette, of tweaking my awareness of life’s subtlest yet–make no mistake–potent offerings. But it was also limiting. Stagnating. Blinding. I hadn’t even realized that I was dialled into a sensory deprivation Code Red.

It took the breakup of a sixteen-year relationship to bring me around.

I awoke suddenly HUNGRY, and realized that although a lack of passion may have been necessary to show me what I was missing, I prefer hungry. It keeps me moving…makes me want to reach out. Sweet delicious life! And there’s the key. In a word.

Life.

Have you lost your senses? Your true taste for life?

Live.

You were born for this. Find your healthy balance. That includes your passions. The rest of us need you to be you.

Become the Sommelier* of your experience on this planet. Taste. Discern. Share. Use your experience and your new awareness for the greater good. And be of a greater goodness to yourself. Learn everything you can about you. What do you care about? What moves you? What is your most decadent slice of life? How can you fill your glass without overdoing it? Where do you go with the bitter bits; the parts of life, of yourself that you just can’t take? How, if you have been lost, will you find your way home again? When, if you have been betrayed, will you regain trust in your senses? And why is this happening to you, anyway? If you don’t know, ask someone who cares. Let them be your sommelier. Let them guide you to the finer points of life, of yourself. Slowly—and sometimes quickly—you will come to your senses. You will get your own sensibilities on track. And you will know that you are as you are meant to be. Passionate. Sensitive and sensible. Hungry.

Alive.

*A Sommelier is, in simple terms, a wine expert whose responsibilities lie predominantly in tasting and selecting wines (and, in some cases, a range of alcoholic beverages and tobaccos) for restaurants and, ultimately, their patrons.