So you live a ‘normal’ life, you seek success and happiness. You want to accomplish a lot of things, have a beautiful family, have a good job, be fit and young, travel, learn new things and in the process life just gets messy. You find yourself running from one appointment to another, you get stressed out while waiting in traffic, you complain more and more about the noise coming from the neighbours and you get anxious whenever you get the bills. You want to enjoy the time with your family and be in the present, but somehow you find yourself impatient and moody, especially when you stop running for a moment and you would have time to breathe again.
And then something happens. Something terrible that stops the Earth spinning for a moment and you immediately re-evaluate your life, what you have, what is important.
I remember when we had a crisis in my family and after weeks of misery I just went back to the routine and started to work again as if life could be ever normal again. I sat down on a bench at lunchtime and it seemed so surreal and so comforting at the same time as people walked around me, as the sun was shining and warmed up my cheeks and I closed my eyes for a minute and I just felt grateful to live, to be healthy, to have more chances to live, to get more opportunities to value all the great things I have in my life and go and get those that I always wanted. As I was there, grateful for being able to breathe, I felt deeper love towards people in my life than ever before.
You know what I mean, we all had such insights in life. But it is interesting what happens with this feeling. Do you actually follow through and quit your boring job, start that course you always wanted, get a dog finally or fix your hurting relationships? Or do you let yourself slip back into the old routine and learn nothing of the crisis.
No matter how long ago it happened, you can still use that insight. We do have tragedies and crisis in life, nothing can change it. But what does it teach to you, in depends on you. Do you open up your heart and listen to the message? Do you use it to start to value things you took granted before? Will you build a new life on this new perspective and move towards a more fulfilling life?
What would it look like for you? What would you change, what would you just stop doing and what would you start to do immediately? What would you do to improve your health, reduce stress so that you can be here long enough to actually achieve your goals?
There is your answer how to seize the moment. It is never too late.
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