Dear One,
I couldn’t sleep last night.
Someone I know died last week, a friend of the family. I didn’t know her all that well, but every time I saw her, every interaction I had with her left me feeling appreciated and acknowledged.
She was so very present, her face lighting up when she saw you. She smiled big, from deep within and seemed to squeeze the joy out of life.
I don’t even know what she accomplished in life. It’s how she lived and how she left people feeling that was extraordinary.
I thought of her last night, her death yet another wake up call.
It got me thinking about life, and how you stop yourself from really living.
I know you know what I’m talking about.
Surviving is not the same as living.
It’s actually quite easy to survive, to live with all the things you’re tolerating and all the ways you’ve suppressed yourself.
But your dreams and desires for this life?
Where do they exist amidst the toleration and survival?
Maybe you talk about them a lot, but because you rarely take action you sound like the boy who cried wolf.
Maybe you write about them…at night, in your journal, when no one’s looking.
You keep them safe and locked away.
And love. Sweet, sweet soul-nourishing love.
What about it? Do you share your love, expressing it freely?
Or do you save it for the ‘appropriate’ time.
What are you waiting for?
Someone died last week and it could have been you.
This isn’t meant to sound morbid or judgmental.
But it’s heart breaking to keep watching, witnessing the struggle.
I say this because…
Struggling may be part of the human condition.
But as my friend Satya Colombo says, “don’t mistake the Battle for the Truth.”
And what I know as truth is that you’re here for something more than struggle.
You are here to shine and I don’t care how cliché that sounds.
I believe it. Wholeheartedly. Without reservation. Till I die.
Someday isn’t ever coming.
In the well-known piece The Invitation, Oriah Mountain Dreamer says,
“It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.
It doesn’t interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dreams, for the adventure of being alive.”
That’s what kept me up last night.
Someone died.
And your dreams?
Are dying every day that passes without you taking action.
Can you live with that?
I honestly don’t know what my dreams are any longer. Too much dust and denial. You’re right though. High time to embrace free-range brain.
I like the sound of free-range brain 😉
Beautiful, and true. I’ve lost so many loved ones, sometimes wrenchingly young. I have only 2 deep longings on my list. Both take time & money. I love my life but feel a shortage of both time/cash. Living many dreams now, little to complain about, but we have had 6 funerals in 2011. This is real.
I’m so sorry to hear of the loss you’ve had this year Lynn. I think why I’m so passionate about this is that I want people to wake up before they have this type of wake up call like death, illness or other life tragedies!
I have a crazy dream: to collaborate with an artist to create a series of comic books/graphic novels based on my unbelievable life. I know – crazy! But I’m gonna do it. Makes me giggle just thinking about it. 🙂 Anybody know an awesome artist who would love to work with me?
LaVonne you should so do that!!! And there are artists in the CustomerLove community who’d probably love to work with you! 🙂
Thank you, Sandi, for speaking the truth about life — it’s finite. You and you and you and you are going to die. So am I. You don’t want deathbed regrets. I’ve seen them, and they are awful. Hell, I had them — until I got a reprieve and didn’t die after all. LIVE! DREAM! LOVE! RISK! BE! Otherwise, you’re dying one little piece at a time.
My dream? Stop the suffering myself and other overweight and obese women feel and start the joy of being alive. TODAY! Stop the self hatred and start the self love. TODAY! Stop the weighting for life and start the living of life. TODAY! I don’t know if I have any more somedays. Neither do you. It’s not a risk I’m willing to take. Not any more. Are you?
It’s not a risk I’m willing to take any more either. Thing is, when I write a post like this I’m also reminding myself! I can always find a place in my life I’ve been holding out on, always.