Falling in love with life

Being Happy with life --- Being Present

Guest writer:  Jo Rosee

"Most people seek to fall in love with life and the people in it." Humans are complicated and, unnecessarily, make life much more complicated. Since we first started living, all we really want is to fall in love with life and the people in it.  We abbreviate the truth, don't reflect, don't commit, or don't make appropriate changes, even when opportunities are in front of us to keep us slotted into our chosen path. Most often we get sucked into other people's agendas, unnecessary situations and humiliations because we fail to live our own life appropriately, that is, what it has been meant for us.

[Reflections after attending a funeral of a loved one...]

The eulogy was about the 'dash' between the date one is born and the date one dies. The 'dash' represents the life of the person.

If our whole life's span depended on the measurement of the 'dash',  it would be true to say, we could make our life up as we go. It's after all ours, not anyone else's,  isn't it! Therefore, we can feel proud of every micro achievement we make in that 'plan of life,' be it big or small. Why? Because we only need to measure up to ourselves. Since each person is unique, if we know that the dash represents what we do - decisions we make daily, hourly, and by the minute - we can easily 'fall in love with life' to achieve our plans. That is not saying, we should not help others, or share in commitments, or not take responsibility seriously.

'Falling in love with life' is about being happy with our life. It is about our commitment to ourselves and to our plans first, before others. Being happy with life and being alive allow us to 'fall in love' with who we have or want to interact with us (little or greatly), along the way.

Being in love with life may not always give us the desired result. Consciously or not, we might anticipate, calculate and manipulate, but we cannot dictate others and their reactions to life. We should not. We do, however, need to find time to reflect and to give ourselves the opportunity to change what we don't want to accept, and what works well for us, in order to continue to 'fall in love with life and the people in it'.

Shaping our 'dash' is a self-commitment and a love of life. It also makes physical age immaterial. Our life journey should not be judged or based on other people's opinion. As individuals, we should set aside a time and a space for reflection, a breather, to pave way for that needed mind-clearing decision, if only to honestly fall in love with life.

Sometimes we need a reminder - to stop - to be present.

Initially published from my Life Sparklers, September 2008.  / Tel

(c) September 2011. Tel. Leaves from my Musings. All rights reserved.