What does it mean to be truely alive?

What does it mean to truly live?
Am I living because I'm breathing?
Just because my heart beats steadily,
my lungs fill and empty,
my chest expanding and contracting,
does that mean that I'm alive?
Am I alive simply because I can think or because I can love?
Am I living because I can speak, I can scream and shout?
I can cry and laugh and yell,
I can bleed and I can feel pain,
and my heart can be broken,
do any of these things mean that I am living?
For without my heart and lungs I would surely die.
But if I couldn't think and dream or love endlessly and openly,
what would be the point of living?
If I couldn't speak
or shout
or cry
or laugh
or bleed
or feel pain,
if my heart could never be broken,
then I would not be truly alive.
Living is not simply existing,
with a body full of functional organs.
To live you must express yourself to the world around you,
let them know who you are,
cry when you are sad,
laugh when you're happy,
you must get your heart broken and recover so that you can learn the lessons of life.
What does it mean to truly live?
It means discovering yourself,
exploring whats there beneath every forced smile and ache in your soul,
and being the very best person you can find it in your heart to be.

Zeenat Merchant Syal