If You Only Had 6 Weeks Left To Live What Would You Do?
It's the classic question, right? If you *knew* your life was going to end how would you live what was left of it .... and the movie opens and we sense courage, impending despair and the resilience to push it aside and *live*.
Well as any buddhist will point out to you - we are all dying - one day at a time - with or without the expiration date in hand - we all know we are going to die. Whether we choose to face it and let that fact influence us or not is another proposition altogether.
Maybe it's Chris Whitley's death that stirred this up in me. Something clicked when I learned he'd passed - like a combination lock - I knew it was time. Time for what? Time to push away a layer that sits between me and my heart - time to be one with myself in such a way that there is no hesitation - no fumbling around the fear of what others think and how I think they perceive me. There is *no time* for any of that - I'm dying day by day and those worries aren't worth the time I have left.
I go out - probably once every 2 weeks - sometimes once a week - by myself - to dance. Dancing is probably one of my five favorite things to do in the world. When I am dancing I feel like not only am I alive but I am expressing what is inside me so completely and effortlessly that my life is complete. I could die on that dance floor with the dignity of knowing I'd lived out one of my heart's desires.
So why not every day lived like I'm on that sacred dance floor? Why not every day from the heart no matter how small the gesture or exchange? Why not life as the most important dance of all - the one that teaches us that in the end the only thing we can follow is our hearts and the more space we put in between ourselves and our hearts the more needless suffering, anguish and waste of *our time* here on the planet.
It's the classic question, right? If you *knew* your life was going to end how would you live what was left of it .... and the movie opens and we sense courage, impending despair and the resilience to push it aside and *live*.
Well as any buddhist will point out to you - we are all dying - one day at a time - with or without the expiration date in hand - we all know we are going to die. Whether we choose to face it and let that fact influence us or not is another proposition altogether.
Maybe it's Chris Whitley's death that stirred this up in me. Something clicked when I learned he'd passed - like a combination lock - I knew it was time. Time for what? Time to push away a layer that sits between me and my heart - time to be one with myself in such a way that there is no hesitation - no fumbling around the fear of what others think and how I think they perceive me. There is *no time* for any of that - I'm dying day by day and those worries aren't worth the time I have left.
I go out - probably once every 2 weeks - sometimes once a week - by myself - to dance. Dancing is probably one of my five favorite things to do in the world. When I am dancing I feel like not only am I alive but I am expressing what is inside me so completely and effortlessly that my life is complete. I could die on that dance floor with the dignity of knowing I'd lived out one of my heart's desires.
So why not every day lived like I'm on that sacred dance floor? Why not every day from the heart no matter how small the gesture or exchange? Why not life as the most important dance of all - the one that teaches us that in the end the only thing we can follow is our hearts and the more space we put in between ourselves and our hearts the more needless suffering, anguish and waste of *our time* here on the planet.
posted by Stacia @ 9:21 PM
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