I am inspired by the following excerpt from a book by Dr. Seuss - “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!”

“Congratulations!

Today is your day. 

You’re off to Great Places!

You’re off and away!

You have brains in your head.

You have feet in your shoes.

You can steer yourself any direction you choose.

You’re on your own. And you know what you know.

And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go.”

What startles me though is even though we have brains in our head and feet in our shoes, very few of us have decided where we will go with the life we are given.  What I am talking about is a vision, a plan for the future, that enables a person to take daily steps towards their dreams.  And these daily steps are chosen from a place that honours values so that choices are powerful.    You see, when you have a vision, or a fulfilling plan for your future, you can take the ups and downs of daily life more easily in your stride and allow things to unfold as they should.  A vision is your compass, guiding you to stay on your chosen route, even as obstacles appear in the path and move you off it.    Have you decided where you will go in your life?   Is there passion in your decision?

I recently have had a lot of occassion to ponder old age and death.  When your life is drawing to an end, what will you say when you look back at it?  When you are on your death bed, what might your thoughts be on how you lived your life?  It is a well known quip that you won’t be wishing you worked more hours at the office!  My father, on being told that his odds of surviving were around 20% or less when facing his third emergency heart by-pass surgery in less than a year, was sorry he would never get the chance to go gliding again or to visit Vancouver again.  His indomitable will to survive and stay with his family pulled him through much to the amazement of the medical profession but he looks at every sunrise and sunset not knowing if it may be his last.  He says goodbye, not knowing whether he will speak to any of us again.  How do you view the sunrise each day?  Are you up in time to see the sunrise?  Do you even notice the sunset?  Do you say goodbye to your loved ones as if this was all the time you had left together?  Do you live your life as if this day really counted?

If we practice being totally in the moment, breathing in each moment and practicing huge gratitude for that moment because it is our life, what could be different in our lives, in our world?  Try it now. Stop thinking about the past, the irritations of yesterday or 5 minutes ago and stop thinking also about what you have to do today or in the future and just sit and take in this very moment….What comes up for you?  I am looking at the very beautiful profile of the North Shore Mountains, and the blue, blue Winter sky, with wisps of white cloud moving by slowly.  At this moment I am grateful that I can appreciate this beauty which I had not noticed at all when I came in and starting addressing my day and the lack of hours in it.  This moment honours my value of appreciating nature and grounding myself in nature and I am back in charge of my day.  Take a moment now and draw that moment into your life, and then take the next and the next and let me know what you see, what you feel, what comes to you in that moment.

And when I die, I dont need more than this.  A few flowers to mark the spot where my bodily remains rest, because I love flowers, and music as companion for those who mourn my passing, and because I love music.  I would rather that people speak of my life as magnificent than admire any gravestone put up to mark my life.

How do you want to be remembered?  How would you remember yourself if you were speaking at your funeral?

With love, K