Monday, July 03, 2006

Waking Up to The Joy of Living

"Living As if There Were No Tomorrow" is this week's Interlude: Meditation of the Week at interluderetreat.com.

Tom Barrett the creator of that site, provides a wealth of inspirational, thoughtful and useful information - as usual.

So what would you do if today was the last day of your life?

Hopefully you aren't waiting to do whatever those things are, given the uncertainty of our time on this earth. Living your life as if today is it, this moment is it, makes sense.

This isn't about taking that trip to Europe, climbing Mount Everest, riding a bucking bronco, jumping out of airplane etc. A close examination of our life informs us that what is most important are the people we love and the people that love us. If we start from that premise - that our relationships with those we love are the most important thing - then what can we do?

Ira Byock the author of "Dying Well" says there are four big things we all need to say as part of the dying process -

Please forgive me.

I forgive you.

Thank you.

I love you.

Goodbye.



If we took away the goodbye the first four things sound like a good plan for "Living Well".