Over the past few years, the frailty and fragility of life has been brought home to me at this time of year – my uncle passed away at the end of October, the following year one of my friends lost her fight for life at the end of November. And with Christmas and my birthday coming, I miss them more than ever. No birthday card from my friend will hit the mat, no silly texts from my uncle will arrive. As maudlin as this sounds, it also reminds me how lucky I am to be able to still breathe into these lungs, to enjoy the festive season and to moan incessantly about winter. I am very grateful that my one and only precious self is still here and still healthy.
It also makes me more aware of my own life, and how I am living it. If my life ended, would I be happy with how I had lived? Would I rue missed chances? Would I regret wasted time? Now let me just say here that I do not believe that any time is wasted – every experience helps us to grow and gives us opportunities to be more wonderful…it’s just that sometimes we take the opportunity to be grumpy instead! And as I said last week, this grumpiness gives us the opportunity to turn it around and pay attention to what we do want instead of what is pissing us off.
If life was the most precious gift you had this Christmas (or today, tomorrow and every day), would you treat it the way you currently are? Would you read the care instructions more carefully? Would you have more appreciation for your life, your body, your mind, your heart, your spirit? Do you even notice the absolute miracle that is your life? Can you imagine the chaos if a computer giant were in charge of the mechanics of the human being? You can’t switch us off and on again when we aren’t working…well, I suppose you can, but it’s not an everyday solution!
Imagine – you breathe, think, your heart pumps, you digest food and process waste all without thinking! Imagine the mechanics of something as simple as picking up a pen – and we do it all without thought. It is utterly miraculous. We are utterly miraculous. YOU are utterly miraculous. There is no one else like you in the world. No one else who will have the experiences, thoughts and feelings that you have. And you do all this without much tlc I suspect. Many of us take better care of our belongings than we do our bodies. Our cars are serviced more regularly than we are. It’s not just a question of eating well, drinking water, exercising, all that usual stuff. It’s also about filling your life with joy, filling your heart with love, filling your mind with the idea that life is fun!
Imagine if you had a little tag sticking out of your sides, like your t-shirts have. Care instructions. What would yours say? Mine would say ‘feed nice food, water liberally, exercise daily, make laugh hourly, sleep for 8 hours, surround with lovely people, treat with love and respect and tell her she’s fabulous every time you pass a mirror, make feeling good top priority’. Lol. You are so lucky to be you, with your gifts and talents, with your unique perspective, with your possibilities and potential. With your life. Do you appreciate that gift?
– Something to Play With –
What would your care label say? What would someone need to do to take the very best care of you? Leave me a comment below and let me know!
Love
Donna.x
Comments
8 responses to “OnTheBeach – The Gift of Life”
Brilliant! My work is done!!! xxx
Exactly, Donna!! And you describe it perfectly. And you’ve inspired me to do a MUCH better job of caring for myself that way. Thanks!
Exactly. In fact, if I could write my own eulogy, I’d take the piss out of myself for taking life a bit too seriously sometimes! xxx
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. Ande, that is so CUTE! Oh man, I love that. Getting fuss and love and played with and laughed with (at) and walked and fed and adored. Genius. xxx
Lol – love it Sam!!!! Hmm…must add to mine “give lots of sunshine and limit winter”! xxx
You are so right my love. It is in these moments we are quickly faced with our mortality, how temporary life is.
One thing I know for sure. When my time comes, the eulogy shall not talking about how much I earned, what my job was, fancy house or car…but it WOULD (hopefully!!) share about my love of life, how I loved my family, charity work, enjoyed my career etc- in other words, what kind of Human I had been.
Grab this moment, every moment, cherish it and cherish your loved ones. Let’s look around and think how we would like things to be, instead of putting up with it, as I know I do sometimes. Whether it’s our career, love-life, home life, hobbies, friends- everything that matters to us. Move towards being kinder to ourselves and work towards what makes us happy- even if that’s a bubblebath! Greater contentment and more energy shall follow.
Oh, I needed this one today! Thanks for the “wake-me-up.” 🙂 My care tag would be simple. It would say, “Treat me like you treat your dog.”
Lovely! My care label would say:
ensure she gets plenty of rest, feed her healthy food (and remember a little bit of chocolate from time to time), give her lots of water, green teach and fresh juices to ensure she operates optimally, bend her body into funny yogic shapes every day to remind her to appreciate her body, give her lots of hugs and kisses, and pop her in the sun or on the grass every chance you get.