“ … It’s an emergency
But I'm a say it clear and loud
I bet you care and hear me now
The expiration date that I gave to you
Has now come and gone so I have to move
It's too late for me to hold on
The expiration date that I gave to you
Has now come and gone so I have to move
It's too late for me to hold on … “
~ Jhene Aiko ~ Expiration Date ~
***
About five years ago I was told of my expiry date. If I didn’t follow the treatment protocol advised, I would be lucky to live another 5 years at best. The diagnosis was stage 2b, grade III with prescribed treatment was mastectomy, radiation and chemotherapy. The surgeon provided no other option. And alternative treatments were not even to be considered.
As the story goes, I didn’t follow their advice.
And so far, I’ve outlived my expiry date.
So far, So good.
Living with an illness means coming face to face with death every day. Not a clue what you are going to get, when it is going to happen and how. So you live your life with what you got.
I no longer fear death. It is a natural process. It is inevitable.
I have the awareness of my mortality at any moment.
And it is not about being extraordinary or special. We all have the ability to decide how we are going to live our lives. No health crisis necessary to shift.
On a large scale, our lives are an infinitesimal dot between two infinite spans. On a personal scale, a lifetime is long enough to do amazing things. To pursue and master your passion. To build and future relationships. To love and lose and love again. To chase your dreams and working hard enough to reach them. To have an exciting, fulfilling, meaningful, awesome life.
At times when life gets really really tough, I remind my self that
“ … this body is on loan from the Universe. It is an incredibly fortunate collection of atoms forged in stellar furnaces … pulled together by gravity or some deeper hidden force … “. Once we are finished here, the atoms will recycle to further serve spirit along its upward journey towards ever more complex and useful forms. Perhaps we can just take a moment to celebrate our participation in such a beautiful process.
Most of us don’t like to think about mortality, fearing that it renders life meaningless. Yet the transience of life renders the urgent search for meaning. Live your life urgently. Once your live your ideal life, you’ll love every day.
The practice is not ruminating on your mortality … it is how this awareness affects your behaviour. It is how your live by cultivating gratitude, compassion, selflessness, health, boldness, presence, and meaning.
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