Before I die...
I recently lost my Father and it's also 3 years since my Mother passed away. They had both achieved a lot and still had dreams they followed, even in retirement. It has been an inspiration to reflect on that and my own dreams. Yet, I have also lost friends who were too young to die. Death always creates 'what-if' scenarios. Thinking about the times I have stolen away for my dreams has often made me wonder whether it's a burden to have them in the first place. If I was content, I would spend more time relaxed, with loved ones, not working hard, sometimes struggling to make a change in some way. But without dreams and dogged pursuance of them, how could anything that is not right change? How would we evolve? We always want more time with those who have died. Just to say what we didn't, share one more thought, or a joke, a drink, a story, the pain. And yet, we end up continuing to live life as if that desire to spend one more moment with someone else won't happen again. Until it does. Why don't we share the depth of what we would with someone who has died with someone who is alive? Or do it more often if it is so meaningful as to make us believe it could make a wound such as death feel better. No answers here. Only thoughts. I will quote one poems and leave you to explore other such poems here. What is Success as attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson To laugh often and love much; To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn the approval of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; To appreciate beauty; To find the best in others; To give of one’s self; To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; To have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exultation; To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived… This is to have succeeded. The Clip below made me smile and it was timely. As Candy says, the experiences of losing loved people has meant I have become more clear in some ways. I still ask the questions but I also do more mini meditations everyday to balance, resolve, observe and let go. It's not the dreams that need to be questioned, but the holding on to the energy of unnecessary reactions and emotions, including the energy and misery of failed dreams... that is the burden. So, experience, resolve, let go and balance...
