In Being Alive

eric mccarty
2 min readMar 29, 2023
In Being Alive — True Value — Life — Headless Now — Prose Poetry — Moca McCarty Photo

In being alive:

the true value is in being alive, simply so, and the memories made through life are really just a bonus of reflection, having no lasting quality past the moment of their making. Of course we cherish memories as they seem all that’s left of a certain time, or perhaps they act as a scar that reminds us of a traumatic past event. Either way the moment’s gone, it’s fiction now, no more than a thought that haunts our mind in a pleasant or frightful way.

the real value, what truly matters most…is in being alive,

having just this moment alone.

and aware that this is so.

this isn’t so much about being mindful, although it’s a practice that helps us gain in appreciation as to what each moment holds. Mostly, this concerns the realization of the fleetingness of experiences themselves, or at least in their specific form, how whatever’s occurring right now is fluid, ongoing, and not a separate event at all. Everything is tied together in this way, continuous, and a memory is only a snapshot of a lead in to this exact moment. The true value is life itself, in being alive and aware — soul deep in appreciation of all that’s so easily been gifted.

we call this grace.

and this is because of its continuous nature, how life flows as a singular event that only seems…

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eric mccarty

Writer, prose poetry, meditation teacher and lifetime student