Are You Living to Die or Dying to Live?

It’s amazingly strange to me, words and quotes roll around in my head giving me hints of things to think about. Monday, I kept hearing, “are you living to die or dying to live?” It popped into my head several times during the day. Usually when that happens, I know it is a sign of the content of this blog and Tuesday Talks at 10:30.

I’m currently reading the book “Dying to Be Me” by Anita Moorjani. Anita had a NDE (near death experience). Her body was consumed in cancer and as her body was failing, she had different thoughts run through her mind. She was in pain, but unsure if she was ready to give up. In a comma, she had an NDE. I don’t want to give the book away, so I’ll be brief. She speaks about never wanting to let her parents down. She speaks about trying to be everything she wanted to be but born in a culture where women are to be subservient. The more independent she became the more she felt guilty of letting her culture down. She found miracles in the universe that she was never aware of before that changed her way of thinking forever.

In reading her story, her words made me think who are we in this world? Do we ever fully understand this before we pass? Surrounded by stress and guilt that can be very difficult to escape. We question what is happening around us. How do we navigate these events? Some events, we can control but others we cannot. I spoke with a client, the other day, so distraught with the events of the world, she is struggling with insomnia. I have several clients who are drowning in fear. Fear comes in different forms. We fear forgetting the sound of our loved one’s voice. We fear if we made the right decisions. We fear if we are living the right way. We fear making decisions. We fear failing and even fear succeeding. Some even fear living. Fear is an acronym for two actions. One: Fear Everything and Run or two Face Everything and Rise… Sounds easy enough. We have a choice. But the choice can be a never-ending merry-go-round in the mind, body and spirit. Let’s just dissect it a bit. Let’s ask ourselves some questions. What is our meaning, our purpose for being on this planet? Why am I here? When I come to my final day, will I have made a difference? Have I missed something? We rise and fall, struggle and succeed. Our experiences teach us not to trust anything even ourselves. We’ve been scammed and lied to; our hearts have been broken. We all have issues of feeling disconnected from the world. But, if we are numb or give up, what have we gained?

I want you to think about dying to live. When you have a problem, somehow you figure it out. You change direction, shift your thought process. Showing those who look up to us that we can face anything and rise. We gain and lose people and things through our lifetime. We find the strength and faith to continue. When you fear, I’m asking you to run towards faith. Fear is the rushing water that drowns us, but faith is the life jacket that keeps our heads above water. Our impulse is to breathe, to protect those around us. To put that into perspective, imagine you are driving a car, someone pulls out in front of you, your knee jerk reaction is to swerve and hit the brakes. My right arm also goes out to protect my passenger even if I have no passenger. It’s automatic. No thought, no decision. It just happens. Our impulse is to survive. With survival, comes miracles. That impulse is based off of the miracle that your work is not finished here. If you pay attention, you will see lots of miracles surrounding you every day. Call them out, acknowledge them. “Thank you for waking me up. Thank you that I can open my eyes and see” etc. Be aware that you maybe allowing precious moments to slip away that could make a difference to someone. These are all things that take little to no thought. My point is, what if you took the time to think about things? To really see things?

Let’s pull some perspective into this. What if we knew the time and date of our death? How would this change us? Would we place every ounce of faith into loving your life, showing up for people? Being present in your life? Taking calculated risks that help you rise? Surrounding yourself with your tribe, praying, meditating, not giving up on yourself? I believe we would realize just how strong we really are. I believe we would be adamant in making our mark on this earth for the purpose of being the best we can, be. Times get tough, but we figure it out. It is no mistake that you are here on this earth right now or that you are reading this blog.

Why do we dwell in the depression of our mistakes instead of realizing our victories? Has the world taught us this? Are we programed to always feel as though we are not good enough? To do more? I think it is time to change the channel in our minds. Face it and rise. No more hiding. Hiding only brings fear. In my line of work, I hear a lot of paranormal experts say that negative energies thrive off of fear. Fear feeds the negative things around us. My point is this what we want to feed, fear? Fear feeds more fear. Think about the stories in the news. People will tune in to non-stop coverage of accidents and tragic events. This celebrity was caught doing something wrong. Talk shows aren’t talk shows anymore. They are filled with controversy, yelling, judging and anger. When was the last time you followed a new story that was a good will act? Good news receives no viewer, which means no ratings. But bad news grows from reactions of fear, anger and controversy. We were in a small town a few years ago. So small it only had one radio station. As we listened to the “news” two women were speaking of the upcoming soccer practice at the local park. They made the comment that if you were planning on attending and had an extra soccer ball to please bring it along so that others could participate. My husband and I laughed about it. What a news story. They could have very easily said the school board has decided to cancel practice because the equipment budget didn’t pass. This would have caused havoc with the parents. Instead, they found a way to put an upswing on the problem. They even said bring what you have so others can participate. They placed a call to action for those attending. Do you think those kids will remember that? Maybe, maybe not but I know I will always remember it. It made a difference, teaching these children to be part of the solution instead of complaining about the negative. I remember a world like this when I was younger. I miss that. I’m not sure if it’s that we don’t have time, don’t care or don’t trust being kind and helpful.

Let’s live as though every day was our last day. What would you change? We would fight to stay alive to make small gesture, acts of kindness. There would be no time for negativity. We would be dying to live each and every day to the fullest, helping others, showing love and compassion and seeing the beauty around us.

Face everything and rise. Fight to be the best possible version of yourself. Something blocks you, break through the barrier. My guess, the barrier is fear based. The thing that negativity thrives on. Let’s starve the heck out of the negative influences of this world by showing good will and faith; not just in others but also in ourselves.

Ever hear someone say I’ve been dying to tell you something? How about I’ve been dying to live the best way I can and make a difference in as many people’s lives as possible. I’m dying to change this world one positive thought and action at a time, but I need your help. I truly hope you love the life you live and live the life you love. If not, change it. Be the change one action at a time. It’s not too late. I believe in you, and I believe we can make a difference, because we are all dying to live.

Blessings.

Stacey