"Apprehend Life"

Robert, what do you mean by that? What does apprehend life mean?

Let’s first look at a definition:

Apprehend -
1.
To take into custody; arrest by legal warrant or authority:

2.
To grasp the meaning of; understand, esp. intuitively; perceive.

I had never seen these two words, apprehend life, together in a sentence before I read them in a book entitled, If Aristotle ran General Motors, by Tom Morris. In this book Tom writes, “All our senses can be involved in each of these modes of apprehending life.”
When I read these two words together I froze! I thought; what a concept! To think that life, an abundant, worthy, purposeful, joyous, life worth living has to be apprehended. The idea that life was a fugitive on the run, and in order to have it, I would have to actively hunt it, track it, find it, capture it, and then hold it as a prisoner, was fascinating! It was an epiphany!
You mean to tell me that the good life will not just come to me like a lost hungry puppy wagging its tail and begging for my attention? I can’t just sit back and wait for joy and happiness to arbitrarily drift into my life on the frolicking seeds of a Dandy Lion carrying all my wishes into fruition? Prince Charming isn’t galloping toward me right this second on his white stallion yearning to whisk me away into happily ever after? SAY IT AIN’T SO!!
I am afraid not. If we want a life full of joy, happiness, purpose, love, and all the other things that we usually only experience in a Hallmark card, then we have to get off of our duffs and go after it!

“It is not having but doing that is most intimately related to the fullest experience of being.” –Tom Morris

We have to take action!

“The soul ever yearns to be doing something!” - Cicero

We have to stop wanting… and start doing!

“Happiness is participation… in something that brings fulfillment!” – Aristotle

Do you smell that? That is the scent of the good life that you want and deserve. All we have to do now is take action…start tracking it… stay on its tail… hunt it down…and Apprehend Life! -RDH

What Life?

The fog of deep sleep loosens its grip on my thoughts and burns away slowly as my eyelids drunkenly lift open and my eyes struggle to focus. (What life?) I reach up and rub my eyes to assist in their fight against slumbers heavy haze and swing my legs over the side of the bed, letting them dangle lazily. (What life?) Bright beams of sun, peaking through my blinds, dance across the room and illuminate the frolicking dust in the air giving my eyes tiny targets to acquire a proper zero. (What life?) Slumping my shoulders forward, elbows resting on my thighs, I place my face in my hands in a symbolic physical act of defiance against my minds decision to spoil another nights fertile fruits of fantasy and awaken to reality. (What life?) Realizing that my battle to remain dormant is winless, I retreat my hands away from the fixture of my morning breath and lay them still in my lap. (What life?) Dawns determined dogged gaze unveils my tattooed forearms from their blankets of darkness. (What life?) On my right, carefully painted in profound permanence, is a large question mark with the word “LIFE” below it, and on the left, inked in equally irremovable importance is a sickle with the word “WHAT” below it. (What life?) Guilt, regret, and frustration all weigh down my heavy heart and strain the fragile flow of hope that keeps it from stopping to beat. “WHAT – LIFE?” The words across my forearms remind me that it is time, again, to decide, to choose! What life? Each day, at this first moment, I am desperately challenged by the question and symbols etched into my flesh… WHAT LIFE WILL I LIVE TODAY?