“Wille zum Leben” is German for “will to live” and in modern psychology, the “will to live” generally refers both to humans’ basic survival instinct and to our search for meaning and purpose in life beyond the mundane of day-to-day existence. The strength of our desire, our “will”, to find direction and meaning for our lives, to live lives of significance and value, determines the quality of our lives. Like most things in life, the strength of your life purpose, your will, is in direct proportion to the energy and effort you put forth in developing it.
To give anything less than your measured best is to sacrifice the gift. Nurture your will to live, stay alert for those moments, often still and quiet and easily lost to the hubris of the day, where your soul aligns with your actions and determinately seek out more.
Closing quotes:
“He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.” – Friedrich Nietzsche 1844-1900
“Your heaviest artillery will be your will to live. Keep that big gun going.” – Norman Cousins, 1915-1990
“I don’t want to get to the end of my life and find that I lived just the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well.” – Diane Ackerman, b. 1948, poet, essayist, naturalist
“I have a fierce will to live. Others fight a little, then lose hope. Still others – and I am one of those – never give up. We fight and fight and fight. We fight no matter the cost of battle, the losses we take, the improbability of success. We fight to the very end.” – Yann Martel, b. 1963, author, ‘Life of Pi’
As always, I share what I most want and need to learn. – Nathan S. Collier