I’ll bet if you looked back over your life, there were decades when you can’t remember ever thinking about death or dying. Then there are other times when life seemed cruel and lonely because of the grief you felt when a loved one passed on. As we move on from those times when loss consumes us, we come into a new paradigm of living and our grief is tempered by what is left for us to do. I think day-to-day most of us don’t think about our own mortality…that we might not be here tomorrow. And because we don’t, we miss a great lesson about life.
I was reading this story about Fatima Ali. She died at the age of 29. She is quoted in the story by Melissa Gray…
“It’s funny, isn’t it? When we think we have all the time in the world to live, we forget to indulge in the experiences of living. When that choice is yanked away from us, that’s when we scramble to feel. I am desperate to overload my senses in the coming months, making reservations at the world’s best restaurants, reaching out to past lovers and friends, and smothering my family, giving them the time that I so selfishly guarded before.”
The thought of impending death provides us with a clear direction for living. If you knew you didn’t have much time left in this body…what choices would you make, how would you spend your time, what experience would you choose, what words would you let flow from your mouth? What would you scramble to feel?
Thank you Fatima, for reminding us to indulge in the experience of living…not someday, but now.
Much love
Paula
