15 Good Things, or, Reasons to Keep Living

In this list, I want to be as specific as I could. After I’ve already considered the obvious contenders to the list of things we ought to give thanks for (i.e. loved ones), I now delve into the small details of the world that stick with me. A lot of lists are about things that you ought to do before your time runs out in this world–places to see, movies to watch, food to eat. But that’s just like collecting a set of experiences that, if undone, will mean that you have led a pretty boring life. While it’s true that what we do makes us who we are, it’s also interesting to look into the self and just kind of sit still and be aware of what’s happening–I think that’s enough to appreciate our own existence.

1. That tipsy feeling after a few delicious cocktails, when I couldn’t feel my cheeks.
2. The romanticized idea of smoking cigarettes, or the smell of a newly-opened pack.
3. Lively jazz in the morning, and smooth jazz at night.
4. Walking through the night crowd of a busy, bright metropolis.
5. Night driving.
6. That first kiss of a relationship with somebody that means something to you–a kind of overwhelming flow that blinds you softly until you are in another place, one with all the things that surround you.
7. Being part of a structured system and being able to sneak through gaps between the machine to escape or get lost within the clockwork.
8. The scent of fresh coffee.
9. Cuddling.
10. My first sniff of a particular perfume X: it opened a door of memories and reminded me of the hidden and exciting things.
11. Films that dismiss the boundaries of a blockbuster formula but end up being well-known anyway (i.e. Inception).
12. Plain, reliable notebooks.
13. Eclectic books that cover a wide range of topics–from alchemy to the collective subconscious.
14. The soft blur under a dim yellow light.
15. Math, without the need to understand anything written on paper. There’s just something about knowing that the mathematical hieroglyphs I don’t understand are part of the language of a universe that conspired to make me exist, so I may partake in a cycle of creation and destruction that has been happening before I was born, and will continue on until after I die.

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Originally published on sloppydasein.wordpress.com.