Embrace the Day

I woke this morning as I usually do with a million thoughts in my head…this has to get done, that email has to get answered, etc.  I came downstairs to do my morning mediation and write my list of ‘to dos’ for the day and suddenly I couldn’t breathe.  I couldn’t catch my breath and then the strongest sensation came over me –  look at your phone.

There I found a message waiting for me…my dearest friend’s brother had ended his struggles with addiction. The news was sent succinctly, ” Cat, he’s gone.”

With those few words a rush of emotion swept over me; sadness for the family, his struggle, his child.  Sadness for that which would now never be.

And I thought, here I sit rambling on about emails and phone calls to make when half-way across the world this Soul has passed on.   In my house we are on week 3 of school holidays, so the troops are getting restless.  We are all looking forward to getting back to the routine of school, some alone time, etc.

But for my friend’s brother the ‘routine’ is finished.  My friend herself will not begin this day the same as all others.  Nor will it for her parents or relations.  Their routine is forever altered by a moment in time that can never be changed.

Suddenly my sadness changed to an (inspirational) anger, as I thought how short is life!  How quickly the days pass with us most often entrenched in ‘the routine’.  We tick off the items of the day on our own list of ‘to do’s for the day feeling content that ‘something was done’.  Yet how many times has each of us  allowed Fear to turn us away from becoming our Authentic Selves. How many times have we allowed ‘the routine’ to fool us into thinking we’ve accomplished something, when truly we are hiding behind these empty actions. How many opportunities have you let slip by thinking there is always tomorrow…

For my friend’s brother there are no more chances.  The music has stopped, the dancers have gone home.

But it hasn’t for us.

We have chosen to be a part of this Life.  There is a reason for each and every one of us to be here and somewhere within you, you are aware of who you are.  You are aware of the gifts you carry with you and the work you are meant to do.

Do not let the music stop without allowing your True Selves to shine forth.  Do not squander the time you have worrying about what other’s think or wondering if the time is it the right time or if you really have the talent to accomplish it.

For each and every one of us the music will some day stop.  My friend’s family did not wake this morning thinking that there was no more time.  We do not wake each morning thinking time is short.   We think, ‘there is always tomorrow.’

‘Do not go gently into that goodnight/Rage, rage against the dying of the light,”  wrote Dylan Thomas in 1938 (Do not Go Gently into that Goodnight, 1938)

Shine forth, beautiful Beings of Light.  Do not take tomorrow for granted.

In memory of TK (1977 – 2016)

Peace/Love/Chocolate,

Catherine