Live Like You Were Dying
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What is Our Most Precious Resource?
Death and Gases. Why is Running Out of Gas top of Mind? "99.5 cents a liter" my Dad reports from Canada. Anytime my parents talk to me on the phone, it's like a regularly scheduled news program where you get a live weather wrap-up, current events and an up-to-date report of the day's gas prices. A friend of mine in California tells me he gets a similar gas price alert from his parents except their in depth coverage which specific gas stations offer the sweetest deals as if he hop in his car Berkley to British Columbia just to fill up at the pump.
We Are Running Out of Time
We are a nation obsessed with oil and petroleum as our most precious resource. Yet, there's another diminishing natural resource that often gets overlooked until it's practically gone. Time is our most fragile commodity. Why instead are we obsessed with the mundanities of life like the price of gas? If the price of gas drops by a penny or two, people rush out to the pumps to save money. But as every second ticks by, we lose a grain of time that can never possibly be retrieved but there is no mass panic or hysteria to take advantage of our bounty.
Time is a Non-Renewable Resource
Why aren't there placards plastered all over America that say 78.1? In Canada, the signs would read 80.4, Japan 82.4, Spain 80.8. If we had signs which perpetually reminded us of our average life expectancy, would we view life differently? Since I hold a Canadian passport, reside in the U.S., am of Japanese descent but nap like a Spaniard, I unscientifically consolidate my life expectancies in hope of an average life expectancy of 80.2. The signs we tend to rely on are an ectocardiogram or some sort of health scare that stops us cold to revisit our priorities. Imagine if instead of a gas station you pulled up to a life station and instead of premium, plus, regular the sign board read 80.2 old age, 74.7 cancer, 69.1 heart attack, 54.5 fatal car crash.
We Are Running Out of Time
We are a nation obsessed with oil and petroleum as our most precious resource. Yet, there's another diminishing natural resource that often gets overlooked until it's practically gone. Time is our most fragile commodity. Why instead are we obsessed with the mundanities of life like the price of gas? If the price of gas drops by a penny or two, people rush out to the pumps to save money. But as every second ticks by, we lose a grain of time that can never possibly be retrieved but there is no mass panic or hysteria to take advantage of our bounty.
Time is a Non-Renewable Resource
Why aren't there placards plastered all over America that say 78.1? In Canada, the signs would read 80.4, Japan 82.4, Spain 80.8. If we had signs which perpetually reminded us of our average life expectancy, would we view life differently? Since I hold a Canadian passport, reside in the U.S., am of Japanese descent but nap like a Spaniard, I unscientifically consolidate my life expectancies in hope of an average life expectancy of 80.2. The signs we tend to rely on are an ectocardiogram or some sort of health scare that stops us cold to revisit our priorities. Imagine if instead of a gas station you pulled up to a life station and instead of premium, plus, regular the sign board read 80.2 old age, 74.7 cancer, 69.1 heart attack, 54.5 fatal car crash.
Some day, I hope you get the chance, to live like you were dying.
Like tomorrow was a gift, and you got eternity, to think about what you'd do with it. An' what did you do with it? An' what can I do with it? An' what would I do with it? To live like you were dyin'.
Live Like You Were Dying
Would you fill up on everything life had to offer if you knew precisely how many days left you had to live? What if you lived everyday as if it were your last?
Live Like You Were Dying Story
Artist Tim McGraw. Selected song lyrics written by Craig Wiseman and Tim Nichols.
He said: "I was in my early forties, with a lot of life before me, and a moment came that stopped me on a dime. I spent most of the next days, looking at the x-rays, and talking 'bout the options and talkin' 'bout sweet time." I asked him when it sank in, that this might really be the real end? How's it hit you when you get that kind of news? Man whatcha do?
And he said: "I went sky diving, I went rocky mountain climbing, I went two point seven seconds on a bull named Fu Man Chu. And I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter, and I gave forgiveness I'd been denying. I was finally the husband, that most the time I wasn't. And I became a friend a friend would like to have. And all of a sudden goin' fishin', wasn't such an imposition, and I went three times that year I lost my Dad. Well, I finally read the Good Book, and I took a good long hard look,at what I'd do if I could do it all again".
And he said: "Some day, I hope you get the chance, to live like you were dying. Like tomorrow was a gift, and you got eternity, to think about what you'd do with it. An' what did you do with it? An' what can I do with it? An' what would I do with it? To live like you were dyin'."
And he said: "I went sky diving, I went rocky mountain climbing, I went two point seven seconds on a bull named Fu Man Chu. And I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter, and I gave forgiveness I'd been denying. I was finally the husband, that most the time I wasn't. And I became a friend a friend would like to have. And all of a sudden goin' fishin', wasn't such an imposition, and I went three times that year I lost my Dad. Well, I finally read the Good Book, and I took a good long hard look,at what I'd do if I could do it all again".
And he said: "Some day, I hope you get the chance, to live like you were dying. Like tomorrow was a gift, and you got eternity, to think about what you'd do with it. An' what did you do with it? An' what can I do with it? An' what would I do with it? To live like you were dyin'."
Amazon
We Are Dying Everyday
I once shared at a dinner party what a buddhist priest advised at my Grandmother's memorial service. The minister commented on how a buddhist looks at a flower in full bloom and thinks "this flower is dying" and so too are we like the flower, dying everyday. He commented on how some people would find this a terribly pessimistic way to live but it is in fact a more realistic way to live and by having the freedom of this knowledge, it allows even greater awareness to appreciate the time we do have to blossom on this earth. I was asked if this was a sobering, depressing way to live but it actually has the opposite effect.
Time is Running Out
Time is of the Essence
I'm having supper with my Dad when I ask at 77, if he is scared of dying, he shrugs off my question as irrelevant as if I were asking him when he's going walking on the moon. Perhaps its inevitability is so obvious, he simply dismisses the notion of dwelling on such a taboo subject. The closest he alludes to the possibility of death is when I ask him when he's going to replace his van. At 14 years old, I think in auto years, it too, like my father is aging. He simply laughs it off that his next vehicle is probably the last car he's ever going to buy. This thought hits me cold and makes me a little sad. Buying any one item one final time seems like a final meal request for a man on death row. While I quickly do the morbid mental math, my Dad in his own quiet way doesn't say anything more but simply urges me to enjoy another piece of salmon -- an unintentional zen answer to simply enjoy the moment at hand, a father and daughter getting to enjoy the kind of meal together that can't be replicated on any expensive restaurant menu, a simple meal of salted fish & rice with a touch of wisdom on the side.
"There's Nothing Like Your Own Death to Put Your Life Into Perspective."
Dead Like Me Amazon.com Editorial Review
Dead Like Me puts a light touch on black comedy, but it has a sneaky way of using humor to explore loss, loneliness, and regret, as well as kindness, and courage, and responsibility.
Dead Like Me: The Complete Collection
Amazon Price: $26.55 (as of 05/28/2012)
Dead Like Me takes a darkly comic look at mortality through the eyes of someone stuck between this life and the afterlife. "Bail bondsmen for the disembodied" is how Rube (Mandy Patinkin), the often exasperated Reaper foreman, explains it to disaffected 18-year-old George (Ellen Muth) after she's vaporized by a falling toilet seat from the Mir space station and drafted into the ranks of the Reapers. It's now her job to take the souls of the doomed, preferably before their mortal coil is damaged beyond recognition by the devilish machinations of the gremlin-like gravelings.
"People Die Every Day and Their Lives Go Largely Unnoticed."
What I love about the simplicity of obituaries is that in a few column inches, a life is summed up. A person's life is memorialized and it's soothing to read that so and so always appreciated the smell of a gardenia or was well loved for their chocolate oatmeal cookies. The Dead Beat is gratifying reading celebrating this underappreciated literary form finding truths, honor, humor and dignity in each individual's life.
The Dead Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs, and the Perverse Pleasures of Obituaries (P.S.)
Amazon Price: $2.00 (as of 05/28/2012)
Marilyn Johnson takes us behind the "both humorous and poignant wonders enfolded in the pages of an ordinary newspaper, including many marvelous tales." Especially interesting are the chapters on the obituary writers who document the ordinary joes. After all "who would you miss more, the secretary of state or your garbageman?" The Dead Beat highlights those writers who wordsmith "richly textured portraits of everyday folks who become extraordinary through words".
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but desire fulfilled is a tree of life.
Proverbs 13:12
Visualize your eventual demise.
It can have an amazing effect on how you live for the moment.
Any thoughts on this quote from
lululemon.com or any other comments you may have on life, love, happiness, please feel free to share your thoughts.
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SmartChica
Dec 30, 2010 @ 5:23 pm | delete
- Your intro caught my eye...my father use to always discuss the price of gas and the price of a gallon of milk...evidently that told us everything we needed to know. LOL Thanks for the lens and the reminders.
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typingdot Nov 25, 2010 @ 4:25 am | delete
- Your article make me think a little deeper about what to do in my life. Thx :)
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Amyji
Apr 7, 2009 @ 8:42 pm | delete
- Love it! Time famine causes your life to slip past you so fast. This lens is full of carpe diem!
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mysticmama
Feb 9, 2009 @ 4:15 pm | delete
- very cool lens...most people are too busy working, raising a family and striving to make ends meet to actually enjoy life...5* for you!
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Oosquid
Dec 31, 2008 @ 9:43 am | delete
- A very well written lens with plenty to think about. Yes, we should cherish every single moment. 5 stars.
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by Lotusland
Hi. I'm Yukiko, a first-time writer struggling to get my first book out of my head and onto the page.
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