There are moments when something in us quietly comes alive.
We might be sauntering through a grove of trees when the late afternoon light suddenly catches our attention. We may hear a piece of music that reaches like a laser into the body. A casual conversation becomes unexpectedly intimate. We laugh from somewhere deeper than usual. Inspiration floods in after a period of stagnation. We feel the inaugural coolness of autumn making its way in the evening air.
In these and similar moments, we are simply — here. We find ourselves in the timeless ‘here and ‘now’ of the soul.
I have become increasingly interested in these moments of aliveness—not as pleasant diversions from the serious business of life, but as information.
The Body Knows What Brings Us Alive
The body is continually responding to our experience. It tightens and softens. It leans toward and pulls away. It becomes animated, curious, restless, peaceful, weary. Often these subtle responses are occurring long before we have words for them.
We tend to pay considerable attention to what is wrong: What am I anxious about? What needs to change? What problem should I solve next?
These questions sometimes matter.
But there is another question I find equally important:
What makes me feel more alive?
Not merely comfortable. Not distracted. Not temporarily entertained.
Alive.
There is a difference.
Aliveness may arrive as pleasure, but it can also arrive as longing, tenderness, creative urgency, awe, even grief.
Sometimes what awakens us is precisely what disrupts the life we have become accustomed to living.
Eros as the Current of Aliveness
In the language I often use for this deeper movement, aliveness is related to Eros—not simply eroticism or sexuality, but the vital current that draws us toward contact, creativity, relationship, beauty, and fuller participation in life.
Perhaps we don’t always need to know where that current is taking us.
Perhaps we can begin by noticing it and appreciating the mystery and dynamic potential within not knowing.
Consider:
What conversations leave you feeling expanded?
What places/spaces do you inhabit that support your body to soften?
When you lose track of time, what are you engaged in/doing?
What manifestation of beauty stops you in your tracks?
What longing keeps returning, even when you try to dismiss it?
These small movements of aliveness may be more than passing feelings.
They may be invitations.
And sometimes, the next direction of our lives begins in the space of becoming quiet enough to notice what is already here, already given, already calling us toward it.
© 2026 Renée Jennings . All Rights Reserved .
If This Essay Resonated…
Perhaps these words stirred something you’ve always known but hadn’t yet found language for.
My work invites individuals, leaders, practitioners, and organizations into a more embodied way of living—one rooted in presence, original belonging, and the wisdom of the human spirit. Through depth coaching, spiritual guidance, workshops, retreats, and speaking, I help create the conditions where insight becomes evolving transformation.
Based in Asheville, North Carolina, I work with clients throughout Western North Carolina, across the United States, and virtually around the world.
Whether you’re seeking embodiment coaching, spiritual guidance, leadership development, or transformative retreats, I’d be honored to continue the conversation.
Explore Coaching • Retreats • Workshops • Speaking • 1:1 Sessions and more→