A lot has gone on since November, a lot of thinking and contemplating and EATING. Oops! I got to January and discovered I was literally bursting at the seams - the buttons on my work trousers had long given up and they themselves were literally letting go. NOT brilliant! So I joined Slimming World for the first time 3 weeks ago and have already seen great success. The buttons are now firmly sewn back on again and no longer under as much strain. Brilliant!
I have also started again with my Buddhism meditation classes on Saturday mornings. The centre around the corner from where I live is an absolute haven. It feels a million miles away from the hustle of the town centre which is only four blocks up the road. The class consists of a 30 minute meditation, an hour talk and another 30 minute meditation to finish off with. I love going there and it always calms my mind from my hectic week and helps me to put things into perspective. This week the talk was on the normally avoided topic of death. A bit of a morbid topic for a Saturday morning you might say, but this is not what it is meant to be. They teach you that if you can wholly accept that you ARE going to die and the uncertainty of WHEN you are going to die you should lead a much more fulfilled life. Every moment of every day you should be mindful of the fact you are alive and make sure that you use every breath to breath happiness and peace into your life and those around you. The contemplation on death that we did at the end of the session was hard for me. I have never properly considered the fact that I could die today, this week, next week .. anytime really. I always made plans for doing things later.
To top it all I had some bad news from a friend yesterday who had been attacked the previous weekend and left on the side of a road unconscious. I was overwhelmed. It really hit me how fragile this life is and that I had never taken that very seriously.
So - with this new found appreciation for life I intend to stop making plans for tomorrow and rather focus on right now. Making sure that the people I love know that I love them, making sure I love myself in every way possible (including shedding this weight ASAP and less procrastinating) and spreading as much happiness as I can. It might all sound a bit ridiculous to you and perhaps you think "my family already know that I love them". Well do they? Do they really know how much?
Do shrug off you boyfriend's/mother's kiss goodbye in the morning because they annoyed you before you managed to finish your first cup of tea? When you say "Love you" at the end of a phone call do you say it like you mean it rather than out of habit? When you ask some one how they are do you REALLY mean it? I have thought about the answers to these questions a lot and I know I fall into the trap of just letting each day slip by without any significant emotional exchanges.
One last thought to ponder........If you knew you were going to die in seven days I am sure you would spend your time doing all the loving, cuddling, listening and giving you could possibly manage. Death can be so unexpected so why wait for the bad news to spread the love.
Namaste x
No comments:
Post a Comment