Ep 173: The Sweet Ache of Life ~ Embracing the Full Spectrum of Human Sensations

Have you ever wondered why you sometimes feel an undefined ache within you, even when everything seems perfectly fine? This sensation is an intrinsic part of our human existence. In this episode of Truth and Transcendence, we explore the concept of the "ache of life," a neutral and powerful feeling that signifies our mere presence in the world. This sensation isn't about pain or suffering; it's the sweet ache of being alive, felt through beauty, love, joy, and even sorrow.

Throughout the episode, I encourage you to tune into this pure, sweet ache and recognise it as a sign of life itself. By shifting our focus from seeking constant comfort to embracing the full spectrum of human sensations, we can find joy in the simple fact of our existence. This week, relish the powerful energy of being alive and appreciate the bliss that comes with this ache. Let's celebrate our corporeal existence and the myriad of feelings that come with it. 

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

Truth and Transcendence brought to you by being Space with Catherine Llewellyn. Truth and Transcendence, episode 173. Thank you for tuning in. I want to talk today about what I call the ache of life. I recently sent a car to auction a nice car and the auctioneer wrote that the car was achingly beautiful, and I love that. I know what he means.

Speaker 1: 0:41

Beauty, or the perception of beauty, can be an ache that we feel, perhaps in our throat, perhaps in our body, somewhere, perhaps in our jaw as we're grinning with the beauty. And then another thing that connected in with this for me was one night I was lying in bed and I was kind of feeling something and I couldn't work out what it was. It was kind of an ache. I felt an ache in myself and I thought what is this? Is it my leg? Is it my left leg, my right leg? Is it my arms? Is it my hands? Is it my back, my hips? And I kind of examined how I felt in my body and there was nothing wrong anywhere, there was no pain or issue anywhere. It was just kind of this aching feeling within me and I realized it was not because of anything in particular, it was simply the ache of being alive and awake. To being alive, I mean in our bodies. I mean in our bodies, our hearts, our minds. Within us there are pressures going on all the time. There's blood pumping, there's skin stretching and flexing, there's ideas zipping about, there are emotions surging and subsiding. This is all the ache of life, and when we're awake we actually feel it, and some of it is really joyful and some of it is really not joyful, but it's all part of this ache of life, and I love the term because it's neutral. The ache of life is neutral. It's not the life is suffering idea that some of us are familiar with, which I think is a very important piece of exploration in and of itself. This is not the same as that. This is just that kind of pressure of existence, just the power and the energy of simply being alive in this physical body, in the world, and it is connected with the fact that we have a body. I believe that if we didn't have a body, if we were disembodied, it would not be the same. So there's something about inhabiting a physical body that is part of this experience, of the ache of life. And so why do I think this is an important thing to talk about.

Speaker 1: 3:06

Because if we notice, as we go through life, all the sensations and feelings that we have, and if we're able to perceive in amongst all of those, this sweet ache, that is not because of something being done to us, it's not because we're being harmed, it's not because anything's being kind of inflicted upon us. It is a natural consequence of being alive and awake in our lives. And we also notice that sometimes there's an ache of love, and I mean the ache when the love within us is vibrating and strongly and expanding, and we can almost feel the heart expanding in our chest. And there's an ache to that feeling of love. Or the ache of the feeling of pride in someone we love who's doing really well, let's say. Or the ache of beauty, and yes, there is the ache of sorrow, the ache of joy and the ache of fear.

Speaker 1: 4:12

There are all kinds of aches that we can experience and, almost independent of those, there's this pure ache of simply being alive.

Speaker 1: 4:22

But we're so addicted to comfort and we are so encouraged to be addicted to comfort by what we see in the media, the messages we receive from outside of us, that comfort is the goal. We're so addicted to comfort that we always look for the reasons, for the ache ways to resolve it, and the thing is, when we do that, we are potentially robbing ourselves of this sweet ache of corporeal existence. So this coming week I invite you to tune into the ache of life, see if you can find that pure sweet ache that is simply of you being alive and that's a gift and you almost can't stand yourself because of the bliss of being alive and that's the ache. And have a wonderful week and I'll see you next time. Thank you for listening to Truth and Transcendence and thank you for supporting the show by rating, reviewing, subscribing, buying me a coffee and telling a friend. If you'd like to know more about my work, you can find out about Transformational Coaching, pellewa and the Freedom of Spirit Workshop on beingspaceworld. Have a wonderful week and I'll see you next time.