Today is underrated.
Is your world coming to an end today? Maybe the answer is in daily activities; as fast as the average person hustles from one place to the next, chasing the accomplishment of another task on a different day, a “fly on the wall” could very well conclude most people are rushing as though the world ends everyday while thinking as if life is forever….
Surviving an earthquake must be the closest experience to living through the world’s end. Haiti’s unpredictable disaster happened without notice; it wasn’t penciled in on the calender. A recent story in the New York Times discusses the hardship in Haiti before the devastating earthquake, “One of the poorest and least developed countries in the world, Haiti in recent years has struggled with problems ranging from near-constant political upheaval, health crises, severe environmental degradation and an annual barrage of hurricanes.” (nytimes.com)
One week, two weeks, twenty seven days passed after the earthquake when Evan Muncie was found alive under the rubble. (aolnews.com) Did he survive because he was fully consumed by worries and unknowns of tomorrow or did he need to accept and embrace his present moment to stay alive?
Natural disasters, unforeseen health complications and all freak accidents aside, this remains true: 100 years from now everyone here will be as good as gone.
In recent U.S. news, an endless stream of athletes, politicians, clergymen and entertainers have publicly displayed the root cause of poor financial health and real quality of life through scandals, addiction and uncovered secrets. There’s always more money, a better experience, more attractive partner or stonger drug, but do any of these things ever lead to defining who a person is?
Before tackling life and money at the core, what advice would you give the graduating class of 2010 to experience a well-rounded life at the highest level?
Match the 3 tenses of time listed below with one of 3 levels of importance and share why you chose each rating.
A = Most Important B = Pretty Important C = Least Important
1. Full acceptance and embrace of the present
2. Setbacks and good times of the past
3. Unknown outcomes and hopes of the future
Feel free to comment with any related discussion.
DW
March 16th, 2010 on 9:51 am
I wish the graduating classes of 2010 to continue to have hope and wonder for their future. We humans hate to think we may not have control over nature, in that effort we try desperately to predict natural and polictical disasters. Believe it or not, even these predictions can be totally off and not happen or happen tomorrow or a thousand years from now. I’ve been hearing the signs of the end are present and prepare for it immediately for the last 50 years. Don’t let the “drama makers” (television, twitters, etc) contaminate your hopes and dreams. Make as healthy choices as you can, accept mistakes quickly and keep moving forward. Relationships make life worthwhile, have a good one with your higher power, self, and others – full of honesty, acceptance,joy, giving, forgiveness and love. If we do that and nothing happens, life is good. If something does happen, life is still good. PS: It is really true that we can’t outwit Mother Nature.
March 17th, 2010 on 5:48 pm
Very well said. Learning to let go of the unpredictable things is where personal power and peace is.