You know that feeling when you’re aglow with something? When you’re all lit up? Either you have an idea you can’t get out of your brain, or a thought you need to share, or a goal you need (not just want) to achieve, and for that moment you’re all fired up. That’s aish. (Or as my teenage son would say, “That’s lit.”)
I’ve gone through stages figuring out how to respond to that sudden need to create, or share, or accomplish. I still recall the moment in my early 20s when, while sitting quietly listening to a class or shiur, I identified the specific sensation of clamping and bubbles rising up from my stomach through my esophagus all the way to my throat (yes, I acknowledge this sounds bizarre), and recognized it as my body’s signal showing me I had something to share. I get that same feeling of excited tightness when an idea for a new project or essay pops into my brain, and while I’ve learned to channel it, I find that I always need to identify it and respond to it in some way.
Acknowledge the fire, respond to the flame. If you don’t, well, you may as well be sloshing through life in a waterlogged rowboat. And who wants to live like that?
