The Hourglass of Life
It’s been said that we all die two deaths. Our first death is when we physically die and after we take our final breath.
Our second death….the second death is when we’re forgotten. When no one remembers our name. It’s kind of freaky to think about… being forgotten. But after we pass, in time we will get thought of less and less, whether it takes, decades, centuries, or millions of years, until we’re no longer even a memory and have died our second death.
So when you think of it like that…why not just go for it. Think about what it is that you would love to do and just go for it, with everything you have because our life is like an hourglass and one day we will be on the wrong side of that hourglass.
Death is one of those things that we all think about it, we wonder how we’re going to die and what it’s like afterward, but we don’t dwell on it for long because it gives us a dark and uncomfortable feeling. It feels like forbidden territory to us.
I remember the first time I ever thought about death. I was maybe six or seven, but my thoughts were fixed on the fact that I would be lying in a grave unable to breathe or exist or… anything… all dark and claustrophobic. I remember that it seriously messed with my head—that whole being dead thing. Then one day I read this book that really changed the way I thought about life. I read a book called The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy. And at the end of the book as Ivan is dying he starts thinking back on his life and reflecting on all the choices he ever made, and how he lived his life. His life had always been about status and career positions, and wearing the right clothes, and only being seen with the right people. He took promotions and job incentives that increased his income, but deteriorated the relationship with his wife. he pushed everyone out of his life that ever loved him and cared about him, and he got sick. And as he got sick and lay dying on his deathbed, he looked back and realized he had preoccupied with all the wrong things during his lifetime. I’ll never forget what some of his final words were, “What if my whole life has been wrong?”
See we’ve all been brainwashed by the media, by our peers, by our parents, by our mentors, teachers, to achieve this thing called success. and no one ever defines success for us.
you can look up the definition of it in the dictionary, that would do a large injustice to you. because success is really a random arbitrary thing because if you think about words, what are words, they’re meanings of associations. They’re just ideas that we learn to attach to a concept.
So what is success, that’s the first step. Let me give you my definition. Success is not money, success it is not clothes, it is not status, not materialistic items, those are simply rewards of habits of successful people. Success is the magnitude of the beneficial footprint that you leave on society. How many people do you have an effect on and what type of an impact did you have.
Life is not about where you start or where you end, it’s the distance you travel in your life. It’s what you stand for, it’s what you represent. Make that dash in between the dates on your grave stone stand for something. Vow to live a life that is worth looking back on and remembering.
Dont die with your music still in you. You are here to fulfill a destiny. And You can sense the inner pull toward playing the music that is within you. Deep down you know what it is. That inner yearning is your cue. You may have ignored it to pursue other goals, such as the accumulation of wealth and status. But that inner voice of to be what you came here to be intensifies when you move away from your destiny. Vow to not die with your music still in you. Take the necessary steps to implement a life that has plenty of room and time to fulfill a destiny that only you can feel within you. Notice what you really want in your life. Take the time to notice the moments of your life that make you smile, laugh, feel happy, meaningful and valuable, the times you look forward to, the times that you are so lost in a project that time vanishes. These are the daily moments that nudge you to follow that path of bliss.
One day you’ll be on the wrong side of the hourglass and when that time comes you won’t regret living a life in which you played the music within you, but was a little bit dangerous, but you might regret fearing regretting it. So You have a decision to make, to play it safe and tip toe quietly through life to arrive at your grave safely or to live full and design a life worth remembering.
Motivational Video – The Hourglass of Life http://youtu.be/3uYT16qBbsM
