“I thought I was learning how to live when actually I was learning how to die.” – da Vinci
I grew up visiting cemeteries---especially the historical ones. As strange as that sounds, it also profoundly impacted my perspective on life.
I had a youth leader who, while on trips, would commonly take us as teens to walk around various cemeteries, read the tombstones, and ponder deeply what we would perhaps choose our impact to be in our lives.
We contemplated death as a way to inform how we wished to live.
The habit stuck with me.
On my honeymoon in Rome, my husband and I visited a monastery that seemed macabre at first glance. Its architecture and decor were comprised of human skeletal remains. The monastery and monks who lived there were devoted to the meditation of our limited, but sacred, mortality.
The Stoics also speak a great deal about death and our limited time here.
Many peoples of all cultures have this kind of contemplation as a part of their tradition.
Why? Death has a way of cutting through the distraction and noise to the heart of things. It wakes us up to the truth.
You know this. When any one of us has a loved one who passes on, received a hard diagnosis, or had a near-death accident--- we can reach out and touch the truth of life.
We have a level of clarity at that moment that transcends the mundane. We know instantly what is most important to us, what we truly desire, and where we live our lives in misalignment to those things.
Yet, the clarity tends to fade.
It’s easy to forget even when we can sense, or know, we have a more profound contribution to make than that which we are currently having.
We might be afraid of what that growth might require of us. Perhaps we are afraid of failing or being seen for exactly who we are and what we believe.
We might even be afraid that embarking on our path could bring us more significant loss or suffering than that which we have already lived through.
Whatever the reason, we resist.
And, yet, death whispers the truth. You are here– we are all here– for only a short moment in time.
This is not a message of chaos or panic. This message is one of love– even though it can feel like a paradox.
By being aware of our limited time, we enrich and expand our time.
You don’t need to be in a rush.
You don’t need to feel pressured or be in a panic.
There is a difference between rush and urgency: dread and sincerity.
But please do be urgent about your life. Be clean in your commitments. Be sincere in your efforts.
One of the most common ways I see visionaries, industry innovators, and way-showers holding themselves back is by waiting– putting off what is in their heart to explore and express.
It feels easier to avoid our deepest truth by continually distracting ourselves and muting our desires. When the immediate awakening pain fades, we talk ourselves out of the greater path. We water down the way and talk ourselves into being “fine” where we are, doing what we are currently doing.
Also common is the temptation to avoid investing in support because we know, that if we did, we would have to address our own truth and do something with it. We can hide.
The more we can “work on it slowly, by ourselves,” then no one has to know that we are hiding. We can feel significant and “busy” without acknowledging that we have very little to actually show for it.
We choose the path of our lives to avoid rather than to embrace.
So here is my message to you of love:
LIVE YOUR LIFE WITH TRUTH.
Embrace challenge (as a catalyst for inner strength and alignment).
Embrace pressure (as an opportunity to learn your unique leverage points and ease).
Embrace failure (as an opportunity to develop high-level innovation).
Embrace fear (as a mirror to show you your most profound opportunities for freedom, transformation, and healing).
And, you do not have to figure it out alone. That is an insidious trap of our smaller “self.” Embrace support. Your vision is worth it. YOU are worth it.
In summary, here are four vital truths to ponder:
You are here for a reason: to learn, to create, to express, to contribute.
What do you want your life to have stood for?
What do you want to leave behind?
Where are you holding back?
Your days to figure those things out are numbered—so get to it already.
You will have resistance. We all do. Your resistance is brilliant and knows all the ways to best lull you into complacency so that you stay the same, safe, asleep. Resistance sounds reasonable.
Moving into and through that resistance is the most direct path to everything you desire to become and express on the other side.
Perhaps this whole email could have been summarized by the words of Wayne Dyer:
“Don’t die with your music still inside of you. Listen to your intuitive inner voice and find what passion stirs your soul.”
Embrace it all.
Let’s be about it.
Strong Spine. Open Heart.