Recently I read a short article written by a 24 year old man who was diagnosed with cancer that is expected to end his life within the next few months. He wrote about what he feels is the most important to prioritize in living ones brief life in this physical world. His main points were :
* Don’t waste your time on work that you don’t enjoy. It is obvious that you cannot succeed in something that you don’t like. Patience, passion, and dedication come easily only when you love what you do.
* It’s stupid to be afraid of others’ opinions. Fear weakens and paralyzes you. If you let it, it can grow worse and worse every day until there is nothing left of you, but a shell of yourself. Listen to your inner voice and go with it. Some people may call you crazy, but some may even think you‘re a legend.
* Take control of your life. Take full responsibility for the things that happen to you. Limit bad habits and try to lead a healthier life. Find a sport that makes you happy. Most of all, don’t procrastinate. Let your life be shaped by decisions you made, not by the ones you didn’t.
* Appreciate the people around you Your friends and relatives will always be an infinite source of strength and love. That is why you shouldn’t take them for granted.
Having been born 3 months prematurely, with congenital medical issues including my first of 4 open heart surgeries at 1 year old, I have lived my life with a kindred awareness of the value & importance of living this brief life authentically, lovingly and appreciatively. And I agree with most of what he shares. Except for an unappreciative perspective he mentioned referring to our bodies as being mere, irrelevant "boxes".
Actually our bodies are our sensualizing, fleshing consciousness. While we are alive here they are equally valuable, enriching ways of experiencing, expressing, learning & sharing our consciousness, energy, love & appreciation of life & our own & each others embodying soul & consciousness with each other.
Keeping our bodies healthy, including appreciating embodied expressions of our loving, emotionally nurturing appreciation with our friends/hips & relationships, is a direct expression of gratitude & respect for life, ourselves and each other - people who we love and appreciate.
Yes, our embodying consciousness - our physical bodies are temporary. But that does not mean they do not matter. Everything is temporary in the larger sense.
Creating, playing & listening to music is temporary.
Our breath is temporary.
The benefits of an individual exercise session, tai chi or yoga class is temporary.
The emotionally & physically nurturing, calming & wellness supportive benefits of massages are temporary.
Hiking, playing, camping...in nature during a weekend or other time duration is temporary.
Sexually affectionate expressions - experiences of loving appreciation & nurturing are temporary.
Sharing a kind, heartfelt conversation with a close friend is temporary.
Enjoying a healthy, delicious meal is temporary.
Even relationships which we continue to appreciatively share for as long as we are alive with people we live in the same area with, and long distance when living in different regions of the world, are temporary.
Even a life of a hundred years is over in a flash.
Most people who are relatively very old that I have talked openly with about subjective perceptions of life and time, share feeling that it seems like just yesterday they were in their childhood or early 20s. How surprisingly, incredibly brief and dreamlike even a life of 80+ years is.
Though in reality there is no guarantee that we, our friends and others we know will be alive tomorrow, or next year. Which makes it all the more important to deeply appreciate and proactively make "time" for experiences & sharing companionship with new and "long" standing friends & others who we feel an appreciative resonance, love and / or interest with, now while we have the opportunity to.
Pretty much everything really is temporary.
But this does not mean that our embodying experiencing & expressing of our consciousness & related experiences are not worth choosing to appreciatively enjoy doing & relationally sharing on an ongoing basis as long as we have the opportunity to. As long as we are appreciatively alive here, and there is mutual appreciation & openness with each other - with people who we mutually choose to relate with, and for experiences in life, it is all worthwhile, meaningful and enriching.
If we choose to view experiences, people and aspects of life as not important, as less meaningful, less enriching or otherwise unworthy of choosing to remain open to appreciating & enjoying simply because such individual experiences are relatively impermanent, we reject the enriching opportunities to learn, love & grow appreciatively in these realms.
I generally prefer regeneratively lasting intimate relationships of various kinds with mutually appreciative, honest people for instance. Yet as many of us have learned, we can't always predict how deeply mutually loving & lasting a relationship with a specific person is mutually desired & possible.
If I choose to be closed off to unitive intimacy in a moment with someone when both share any kind of mutually appreciative openness, because I don't know if we will enjoy & choose relating in any specific ways just a few times or as long as we are alive, that would only deny both the opportunity for appreciatively sharing learning, loving & affectionate, nurturing intimacy that is available in the only moment guaranteed - the present.
While being appreciatively open, authentically present in both ones strengths & vulnerabilities in each present moment from the beginning, also opens & nurtures opportunities for sharing relatively long lasting, lifetime loving relationships.
This realm is indeed an adult playground of sorts for our fleshing of spirit - consciousness. Our brief life and experiences here are beautiful, meaningful, worthwhile and enriching even in their temporary nature.
As much as we bring an attitude of open appreciation to & for our perspectives of these and additional experiences here, is how much we develop & use our capacity to perceive, and contribute to life and beings individually & collectively, centered love, kind strength & sensitive appreciation.
The more we choose to appreciate enjoying & choosing an experience(s) as long as we have or can create opportunities to do so even though each individual experience is temporary, the more we awaken our sensitivity to the beauty, loving kindness and worthwhile nature of them and life while alive here.
And when are no longer here, for wherever we are and whatever experiences we choose then. For wherever we are, we filter our perceptions of our experiences through our chosen lens of a lack or prevalence of appreciation.
Only when we choose to appreciate at a feeling level specific experiences and people, will we experience them as worthwhile, enjoyable and meaningful.
* Don’t waste your time on work that you don’t enjoy. It is obvious that you cannot succeed in something that you don’t like. Patience, passion, and dedication come easily only when you love what you do.
* It’s stupid to be afraid of others’ opinions. Fear weakens and paralyzes you. If you let it, it can grow worse and worse every day until there is nothing left of you, but a shell of yourself. Listen to your inner voice and go with it. Some people may call you crazy, but some may even think you‘re a legend.
* Take control of your life. Take full responsibility for the things that happen to you. Limit bad habits and try to lead a healthier life. Find a sport that makes you happy. Most of all, don’t procrastinate. Let your life be shaped by decisions you made, not by the ones you didn’t.
* Appreciate the people around you Your friends and relatives will always be an infinite source of strength and love. That is why you shouldn’t take them for granted.
Having been born 3 months prematurely, with congenital medical issues including my first of 4 open heart surgeries at 1 year old, I have lived my life with a kindred awareness of the value & importance of living this brief life authentically, lovingly and appreciatively. And I agree with most of what he shares. Except for an unappreciative perspective he mentioned referring to our bodies as being mere, irrelevant "boxes".
Actually our bodies are our sensualizing, fleshing consciousness. While we are alive here they are equally valuable, enriching ways of experiencing, expressing, learning & sharing our consciousness, energy, love & appreciation of life & our own & each others embodying soul & consciousness with each other.
Keeping our bodies healthy, including appreciating embodied expressions of our loving, emotionally nurturing appreciation with our friends/hips & relationships, is a direct expression of gratitude & respect for life, ourselves and each other - people who we love and appreciate.
Yes, our embodying consciousness - our physical bodies are temporary. But that does not mean they do not matter. Everything is temporary in the larger sense.
Creating, playing & listening to music is temporary.
Our breath is temporary.
The benefits of an individual exercise session, tai chi or yoga class is temporary.
The emotionally & physically nurturing, calming & wellness supportive benefits of massages are temporary.
Hiking, playing, camping...in nature during a weekend or other time duration is temporary.
Sexually affectionate expressions - experiences of loving appreciation & nurturing are temporary.
Sharing a kind, heartfelt conversation with a close friend is temporary.
Enjoying a healthy, delicious meal is temporary.
Even relationships which we continue to appreciatively share for as long as we are alive with people we live in the same area with, and long distance when living in different regions of the world, are temporary.
Even a life of a hundred years is over in a flash.
Most people who are relatively very old that I have talked openly with about subjective perceptions of life and time, share feeling that it seems like just yesterday they were in their childhood or early 20s. How surprisingly, incredibly brief and dreamlike even a life of 80+ years is.
Though in reality there is no guarantee that we, our friends and others we know will be alive tomorrow, or next year. Which makes it all the more important to deeply appreciate and proactively make "time" for experiences & sharing companionship with new and "long" standing friends & others who we feel an appreciative resonance, love and / or interest with, now while we have the opportunity to.
Pretty much everything really is temporary.
But this does not mean that our embodying experiencing & expressing of our consciousness & related experiences are not worth choosing to appreciatively enjoy doing & relationally sharing on an ongoing basis as long as we have the opportunity to. As long as we are appreciatively alive here, and there is mutual appreciation & openness with each other - with people who we mutually choose to relate with, and for experiences in life, it is all worthwhile, meaningful and enriching.
If we choose to view experiences, people and aspects of life as not important, as less meaningful, less enriching or otherwise unworthy of choosing to remain open to appreciating & enjoying simply because such individual experiences are relatively impermanent, we reject the enriching opportunities to learn, love & grow appreciatively in these realms.
I generally prefer regeneratively lasting intimate relationships of various kinds with mutually appreciative, honest people for instance. Yet as many of us have learned, we can't always predict how deeply mutually loving & lasting a relationship with a specific person is mutually desired & possible.
If I choose to be closed off to unitive intimacy in a moment with someone when both share any kind of mutually appreciative openness, because I don't know if we will enjoy & choose relating in any specific ways just a few times or as long as we are alive, that would only deny both the opportunity for appreciatively sharing learning, loving & affectionate, nurturing intimacy that is available in the only moment guaranteed - the present.
While being appreciatively open, authentically present in both ones strengths & vulnerabilities in each present moment from the beginning, also opens & nurtures opportunities for sharing relatively long lasting, lifetime loving relationships.
This realm is indeed an adult playground of sorts for our fleshing of spirit - consciousness. Our brief life and experiences here are beautiful, meaningful, worthwhile and enriching even in their temporary nature.
As much as we bring an attitude of open appreciation to & for our perspectives of these and additional experiences here, is how much we develop & use our capacity to perceive, and contribute to life and beings individually & collectively, centered love, kind strength & sensitive appreciation.
The more we choose to appreciate enjoying & choosing an experience(s) as long as we have or can create opportunities to do so even though each individual experience is temporary, the more we awaken our sensitivity to the beauty, loving kindness and worthwhile nature of them and life while alive here.
And when are no longer here, for wherever we are and whatever experiences we choose then. For wherever we are, we filter our perceptions of our experiences through our chosen lens of a lack or prevalence of appreciation.
Only when we choose to appreciate at a feeling level specific experiences and people, will we experience them as worthwhile, enjoyable and meaningful.
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