An old one, but bears re-posting

Today got me thinking about....

How fragile and tenuous our time is on this earth and how so many people waste that time trapped in fear or anger.

How unfair and arbitrary death and illness are. Just random really, and like the lottery no one knows when their number will be up. This is something we are all aware of, yet we waste so many precious moments of our lives wrapped in fear, anger, and regret or stymied by others’ ideas about who we are. We forget to say and do the most important things and expend far too much energy and time on things that, at the end of our days on this earth will be of little consequence. We worry about what others will think of us if we say or do those things that we hold in the smallest recesses of our being: our secret thoughts our secret hopes, our secret dreams and aspirations. We confine ourselves to a prescriptive notion of how we ought to live our lives that often reflects very little of whom we are.

We should wake every day and choose to be happy because ultimately it is a choice – a path only we can choose for ourselves. We should do whatever it takes to make that happen.

We should plan for and chase our dreams and goals and aspirations even if others tell us they are foolish or unattainable.

We should never live a moment of regret for all the things we might have done – for these things all remain possible so long as our hearts are still beating. We can choose to put one foot in front of the other and take the first step in that direction.

We should always take the time to say the things that are important, even if they are frightening, or put us out on a ledge from which we may not be able to climb back in, or risk us getting hurt.

We should always follow what is in our souls and listen to our hearts, in any, any situation we should be true to ourselves, what we believe and know to be right and true. We should never fall victim to someone else’s definition of who we are because truly, only we know in our hearts who we are – what makes us, us.

We should never let someone tell us what we ought to do and what we ought not to do or who we should be or not be. We should never let someone belittle our dreams and we should never do the same to anyone else. It is the spiritual equivalent of putting a pillow over someone’s head.

We should appreciate each moment, each breath that we take on this earth, each time we see the sun again and feel its presence on our skin, each time we drive with the windows down and the wind twists our hair, each time we get caught in a rainstorm and are thoroughly soaked to the bone. Each time we take part in a still and silent snowflake ballet.

Each time we feel love with a strength that is irrepressible, each time a stranger returns a smile, each time someone wraps themselves around us with a fervor that says, without a word, they have committed their soul to ours.

Each time we fall asleep on the warmth of an afternoon beach or to the drumming of rain on a tin roof, each time we feel the bliss of doing absolutely nothing or the triumph of achieving something great.

Each time our face hits the dirt, for it gives us the chance to pull ourselves up and start again.

Each time we are blessed with the laughter of a loved one or the rekindling of a friendship eclipsed by time.

Each time we wake, open our eyes and draw another breath, because it is the very embodiment of promise and potential. Each new day’s dawn, whether we see it or not, provides us another opportunity to paint our souls, to mark our presence on this earth in a way that holds meaning to us.

Most importantly, we should never forget to love those close us, no matter how painful or disappointing it may be at times. Our capacity to love is perhaps the greatest gift given to us – and we should never leave an ounce of it unspent.