Thursday, May 03, 2007
Live Your Life Without Regret
Do you have any regrets, and if so why? Do you have more than one? If so this means you might be doing something wrong with your life.
Too many people put off something that brings them joy, or fail to see the opportunity to experience joy. They use reasoning like they haven't thought about it, don't have it on their schedule, didn't know it was coming or are too rigid to depart from their routine.
Just think about all those people on the Titanic who passed up dessert at dinner that fateful night in an effort to cut back.
Maybe we should try to be a little more flexible.
How often have your kids or friends dropped in to talk and sat in silence while you watched 'Jeopardy' on television? I cannot count the times I have called or stopped in to see a friend, "How about going to lunch in a half hour?" only to get many excuses like; "I can't. I have clothes on the line. My hair is dirty. I wish I had known yesterday, I had a late breakfast, It looks like rain." And my personal favorite: "It's Monday."
Because Americans cram so much into their lives, we tend to schedule our headaches.. We live on a sparse diet of promises we make to ourselves when all the conditions are perfect!
We'll go back and visit the grandparents when we get the baby toilet-trained. We'll entertain when we replace the living-room carpet. We'll go on a second honeymoon when we get two more kids out of college. And so on, geeezzz!!
Life has a way of accelerating as we get older. The days get shorter, and the list of promises we make to ourselves gets longer. One morning, we awaken, and all we have to show for our lives is a litany of "I'm going to," "I plan on," and "Someday, when things are settled down a bit." Like the Pink Floyd song says “You’ve missed the starting gun.”
Have you ever watched kids playing on a merry go round or listened to the rain lapping on the ground? Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight or gazed at the sun into the fading night? Do you run through each day on the fly? When you ask "How are you?" Do you hear the reply? When the day is done, do you lie in your bed with the next hundred chores running through your head? Ever told your child, "We'll do it tomorrow." And in your haste, not see his sorrow?
When you worry and hurry through your day, you are wasting your life, it is like an unopened gift....Thrown away....
Life is not a race from birth to the grave, so why hurry to get there? See the sky, feel the wind blow, hear the music before the song is over.
If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting? Now, right now, go on and have a nice day. Do something you WANT to do, not something on your SHOULD DO list.
"Life may not be the party we hoped for... but while we are here we might as well dance!"
A New and Better Universe
Too many people put off something that brings them joy, or fail to see the opportunity to experience joy. They use reasoning like they haven't thought about it, don't have it on their schedule, didn't know it was coming or are too rigid to depart from their routine.
Just think about all those people on the Titanic who passed up dessert at dinner that fateful night in an effort to cut back.
Maybe we should try to be a little more flexible.
How often have your kids or friends dropped in to talk and sat in silence while you watched 'Jeopardy' on television? I cannot count the times I have called or stopped in to see a friend, "How about going to lunch in a half hour?" only to get many excuses like; "I can't. I have clothes on the line. My hair is dirty. I wish I had known yesterday, I had a late breakfast, It looks like rain." And my personal favorite: "It's Monday."
Because Americans cram so much into their lives, we tend to schedule our headaches.. We live on a sparse diet of promises we make to ourselves when all the conditions are perfect!
We'll go back and visit the grandparents when we get the baby toilet-trained. We'll entertain when we replace the living-room carpet. We'll go on a second honeymoon when we get two more kids out of college. And so on, geeezzz!!
Life has a way of accelerating as we get older. The days get shorter, and the list of promises we make to ourselves gets longer. One morning, we awaken, and all we have to show for our lives is a litany of "I'm going to," "I plan on," and "Someday, when things are settled down a bit." Like the Pink Floyd song says “You’ve missed the starting gun.”
Have you ever watched kids playing on a merry go round or listened to the rain lapping on the ground? Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight or gazed at the sun into the fading night? Do you run through each day on the fly? When you ask "How are you?" Do you hear the reply? When the day is done, do you lie in your bed with the next hundred chores running through your head? Ever told your child, "We'll do it tomorrow." And in your haste, not see his sorrow?
When you worry and hurry through your day, you are wasting your life, it is like an unopened gift....Thrown away....
Life is not a race from birth to the grave, so why hurry to get there? See the sky, feel the wind blow, hear the music before the song is over.
If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting? Now, right now, go on and have a nice day. Do something you WANT to do, not something on your SHOULD DO list.
"Life may not be the party we hoped for... but while we are here we might as well dance!"
A New and Better Universe
http://www.staffofpower.com
