Alan Watts - What It Means To Be Truly Alive - Metta State of Mind - Just Breathe

Alan Watts often described being truly alive as being completely present — awake to the moment without trying to control, improve, or escape it.

Here are the main elements of his definition, distilled from his talks and writings:

🌿 1. Living in the Present Moment

Watts said that life only exists now — the past is memory, the future is imagination.

“This is the real secret of life — to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play.”

Being truly alive, then, means no longer postponing your life for later. It’s to experience this instant fully — the taste of your coffee, the breath in your lungs, the sound of the rain — without mentally running elsewhere.

⚡ 2. Letting Go of Control

He often contrasted living with trying to live correctly. Watts taught that life flows like water: when we stop forcing it, it moves naturally.

“You do not look out there for God, something in the sky; you look within. When you stop trying to hold on, you begin to flow with the universe.”

To be truly alive, then, is to surrender the illusion of control and trust the spontaneous movement of existence.

🎶 3. Life as a Dance or Music

Watts loved metaphors of art, music, and dance to describe aliveness:

“We thought of life by analogy with a journey, with a pilgrimage… But it was a musical thing, and you were supposed to sing or to dance while the music was being played.”

True living isn’t about arriving at a goal — it’s about dancing the moment, playing the note for its own sake.

🌌 4. Oneness and Ecstasy of Being

For Watts, real aliveness arises when you sense your unity with everything — the trees breathing with you, the stars moving through you.

“You are an aperture through which the universe is looking at and exploring itself.”

This realization dissolves the separation between “you” and “life.” In that recognition, every act — breathing, walking, laughing — becomes sacred.

✨ Summary

To be truly alive, in Alan Watts’s view, is to:

Be fully awake to the present moment.
Flow with life rather than resist it.
Dance with existence instead of marching toward an end.
Feel the unity of self and universe.

Or as he put it most simply:

“The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves.”

#CompassionateLiving

Spotify AlbumsMantras to Quiet the Soul

(This is a link to one of my albums on spotify A Place Called Peace) https://open.spotify.com/album/7bMZqxq0TTw53NzK4akLrv?si=YpgZNBrfRmWDMq8T-RmYtA

(This is a link to one of my albums on spotify Just Breathe) See my coloring books! They are so awesome:) https://open.spotify.com/album/7bMZqxq0TTw53NzK4akLrv?si=co15_qSeQjiIHTk0u5dUrw

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Coloring Books: Mindful Mandalas: An Adult Coloring Book https://a.co/d/fnkFI0p

Angels are Among Us Coloring Book https://a.co/d/7DomvY1

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