I’ve always considered the nature of living to be to grow, to become more – and the nature of dying to be reduced, to become less. Sort of like taking the derivative of what you are, the rate of change…
This has the unusual consequence that when people tell me to ‘live a little’ e.g. with idle pastimes, it feels to me like they are asking me to ‘die a little’.
What do you consider the difference?
Living is the continuation of consciousness, dying is the cessation (or interruption, or –more liberally– damaging) of consciousness.
But more to what you're talking about, when they say "live a little" they mean getting out of your routines and comfort zones, which IS an avenue for growth.
Ah, bad luck – I’m the philosophical zombie everyone’s been looking for: intelligence without consciousness.