The first thing

There is something that is easily forgotten but is essential to a good life. That is  that life is central to our existence.
Well obviously! Yes, it's obvious; but how easily we can forget this as the days, weeks, months and years pass by.
What I'm saying is that we lose the significance of this obvious fact. What is this life? It is powered by life-force. And what is that, exactly?
I don't know. To begin with, knowing what it is is not important. To feel it comes first; and to be aware of it.
This is something that must be realised.
There is quite a difference between knowing and realising. We all know we're alive. Do we realise it? Realising is to make something real. Knowledge of the head is a good starting place. To be realised, that knowledge must also be in the heart and the gut. This may be why many magic rituals are performed three times. As a matter of interest and to back up what I am saying, the heart and gut both have complex neural networks which are not unlike the brain's. They may be primitive by comparison but are nonetheless essential.
This takes me away from my point,  however, which is this: no, I don't know what life-force is but I can feel it in every breath I take, every movement I make, in every thought and feeling I have, in the sunshine and the rain and the wind and the sensation of gravity. I call it magic and there's none that can prove it otherwise.
As children we are alive and unknowing. We play with life. Our societies have become life destroying (look at what we're doing to our beautiful Earth and its inhabitants, ourselves included) or at best life-manipulative. Manage this and that,  all very well; but in the end, will you have appreciated it, this precious life of yours? What was the point of your being alive if you die without knowing you were ever alive in the first place?
So many theories of psychology and biology and even philosophy and theology and magic; but the basic premise is too simple for the intellect: breathe, feel - with your gut, your heart and your head. Thinking is a powerful tool but it is still a tool, not the tool user.