Most of the time we find ourselves going through life on auto pilot. Caught and comforted by the routine of daily life, responsibilities, our stress, our shifting emotions, our boredom and the drama that we create in our lives with the people we love. We ignore the whisper we could hear if we stopped for one moment and chose to listen. Life is fleeting, precious and quite literally you don’t know what is waiting for you. Each breath is all you truly have. No wonder we keep our heads full of chatter, our focus scattered and serve our swirling emotions and fears day in and day out.
If we truly allowed ourselves to hear the whispers we would have to evolve and be present to a Truth that annihilates our illusions of control and justification. We would let in an understanding that life can be “same ole same ole” in one breath, and in the next, life ceases to be recognizable at all.
My family is traversing this right now; the impossibility of losing someone who was working and fine days ago and is now on the edge, in the process of transition from this life. It leaves me quietly reflective and consumed by the surreal state of loss, the weight of the fragility of life, and the importance of how I use each breath I have. Sitting with these whispers which at the moment, possess the cacophonous traits and volume of a scream, allow it to all sink in: Kiss those you love, contact those you miss, let go of stubbornness, judgment and fear. Listen generously, say what you mean and mean what you say, give without expectation, help before you are asked, and live as fearless of a life as you can.
I know...easier said than done....
Someone close to me wrote in his blog a profound echoing these ideas:
A walk through the trees along the river at first light carries the possibility of a restored clarity. Perhaps like the simplicity of standing before a judge and receiving a death sentence:
“On this day, at dawn,
you shall be hanged by the neck
until you are dead.”
A knowledge that ought to produce gratitude for another day, one would think. Though on most, I confess, it does not shake me free from the ephemeral disquiet swirling around inside of me.
Today,
for a few rarified moments,
it did…
zjm
May today hold “rarified moments” of understanding, of grace, of love and a knowing that tomorrow is not a promise. It is a gift.
Blessings Jim. I am honored to have known you.
