Live life

Happy Friday,

How are you all doing this amazing Friday morning? All is well here. I’m enjoying being home today with no where to go. It’s a bright and sunny morning with a hint of wind blowing through the trees with little ripples across the water. Perfect!

Are you excited for the weekend? Any fun plans? Nothing exciting planned here. Just a little work around the house and hopefully, I’ll be able to catch up on some much needed laundry and cleaning. Trying to declutter too. It’s a job for sure, but once accomplished, I’ll be free from the mess.

This morning as I headed out on my walk, I was listening to my book, The untethered soul, by Michael A. Singer. He said something that really stood out to me. He was talking about living and dying and how death should be embraced. Death is something that is absolutely a guarantee in our life. If we focus on everything other than living life to the fullest, living in the moment, and enjoying what we have rather than focusing on what we don’t have, we are merely existing. We’re missing out on the bigger picture of what life is all about. Living, instead of merely existing.

When we look at life with death in mind, we can learn to live in the moment. Instead of flopping about each day and missing out on the life all around us. We need to stop and take notice of our surroundings. We are so busy pursuing things, we fail to live. At least this is the case for many of us.

One of my favorite country singers, Tim McGraw has a song that goes along with our topic of living life. “Live like you were dying.”

In the song it talks about how a man receives bad news, news that may cost him his life. When he received the news, the questions was posed, “When it sank in that this might really be the real end, how’s it hit you, when you get that kind of news? Man, what’d you do?”

The reply is something that we should all think about. We don’t know what tomorrow will bring. We don’t know if we’ll see tomorrow, or tonight even. Time goes on, but it’s never guaranteed to us. Think about the reply to getting news that your time may be closer than you think.

“Someday I hope you get the chance
To live like you were dying
Like tomorrow was a gift
And you’ve got eternity
To think about
What you’d do with it
What could you do with it
What did I do with it?
What would I do with it?”

It shouldn’t have to take getting news that we are dying to make us live. We need to figure out how to live like we were dying. Embrace the beauty and gift of life. “When it sank in that this might really be the real end, how’s it hit you when you get that kind of news? Man, what’d you do?”

“I went skydiving, I went Rocky Mountain climbing. I went 2.7 seconds on a bull named Fu Man Chu. I loved deeper, I spoke sweeter and I gave forgiveness I’d been denying. And he said, ‘someday, I hope you get the chance to live like you were dying.”

For most of us, we haven’t received the news today or yesterday that this might be our time to face death head on, so why not get out there and live life, love life and embrace it. “He said, ‘I was finally the husband that most of the time I wasn’t, and I became a friend a friend would like to have. All of a sudden going fishin’ wasn’t such an imposition and I went three times that year I lost my dad. Well, I finally read the Good Book, and I took a good, long, hard look at what I’d do if I could do it all again…”

Today we are given the chance to do it all again. Today, we are given the chance to live like we are dying. We have the opportunity right now to get out of the mindset of, there’s always tomorrow. Why not live today and enjoy the moments?

I look back on my life and think about some of the things I should have done. I can’t go back and take a re-do, however, moving forward, I can take those chances, get out of my comfort zone and enjoy the journey.

We are all headed to the same destination, death. It’s all about the journey becomes so true. We can live life in a bubble, never skydiving, going Rocky Mountain climbing or even riding that bull named Fu Man chu, but what would you do if this is really the end? What if you were told at 4:00 today that you won’t have another tomorrow, another week, a month or even a year? What would you do different then what your doing today?

Me? I would sit outside more. I would get out on the lake more. I would take those golf cart rides around my neighborhood. I would submit my book and I would re-start my YouTube and podcast. I’d paint more. I’d craft more.

I would spend more time just enjoying my family and friends. I would be less harsh in my thoughts and words and I would make time for those I know are lonely. I would make those extra phones calls during the week to my Aunt Billie and I would take more chances on me.

Life is short. I want to spend the rest of my days, loving deeper, speaking sweeter and forgiving better. Someday I hope you and I get the chance to live like we were dying, like tomorrow was a gift and we’ve got eternity to think about what we’d do with it and what could we do with it. What did we do with our chance to live life like we were dying? What did we do with those opportunities? Did we take advantage of them or did we simply let them slip away?

So much to think about. Nobody is forcing us to do anything in this life. We get to choose how to live life. We have the power to live like we were dying and we have the power to live and exist. Our choice, our life.

I hope at the end of each day, we can all say, I lived today with little to no regrets.

I would love to know your thoughts. As my friend Cindy said to me, “life is good if we learn how to make the best of it. There are a lot of life lessons that come with change. Some good, some bad, but how we deal with the change is what helps build our character.”

To live like we were dying is a huge change in mindset. We can’t go out and just live on the wild side, but we can live with changing how we look at life. We can learn to forgive more freely. We can learn to sit outside and embrace our surroundings. We can shut off social media and sit in our silence or talk with those in our home. Maybe we can check in on those who live alone to make sure they’re okay.

We have choices to make, what will you do with today? I’m excited I had the opportunity to talk with you all today. Getting my blogs out really is a huge accomplishment for me. It keeps me connected with you and as my fingers move across the keys, I am reminded of how blessed I am.

Well guys, I think it’s time to for me to get things done. I want to take advantage of the time I have in front of me. Time to head outside and make my patio a place of comfort and calm. First, I need to figure out how to get rid of the mosquitos so John can sit outside and not get all bitten up.

It’s time to stop wasting time and live like I was dying.

My dear readers, we all have things we face in this life and for some, life has given a big bowl of one hardship over another. I’m not sure what the lesson in life is for those who suffer on the daily. Maybe the lesson isn’t yours, but for others to learn. No matter what you are facing, I hope you know, you are amazing, you are wonderfully made and you are loved.

I hope today, we can all buy out some time to send a quick, I love you to someone special in our life. Maybe today is the day we forgive someone whose done us wrong. Today might be the day we embrace nature and all it’s marvels, or, maybe today is the day when we say our final goodbyes to our loved ones or maybe they are saying goodbye to us. Whatever today is bringing you, I hope we can all embrace living like we are dying.

Every moment of every day is a gift. Go out there and live them all.

Until next time, I do hope you are well and enjoying life. Until next time, please don’t forget, Love Life++ Hugs.