Live Each Day

It's only when we truly know and understand

that we have a limited time on earth ~ 

and that we have no way of knowing

when our time is up ~

that we will begin to live each day

to the fullest,

as if it was the only one we had.

***Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

  

I unexpectedly viewed Kevin Costner (actor) delivering an eulogy to Whitney Houston (singer and actress) at her funeral.  I listened to his words about this talented and beautiful woman who led a life riddled with insecurities.  His words haunted me as they were words that I have heard so many disclose ... doubts about our own personal worth.

It is so sad to me that there is such a strong disconnect between our authentic beauty and our presence in daily living.  We can all bring to mind someone we admire who repeatedly criticizes and underestimates himself or herself.  We are amazed that someone so gifted could have so many doubts.

Life itself is filled with challenges we have come to master, but did we bring such desecration of our inner self from the start?  What washed away our communion with the Divine?  Who separated our body, mind, and spirit leaving us so fragmented?

My belief system allows me to feel a personal loss when someone dies, but it also creates a curiosity about the transition death and dying triggers.  I confidently believe that in death we simply cross over into another realm or another dimension of living.  It is my conception that while the physical body dies, our spiritual self lives on eternally.

So the sadness I felt today was not about Whitney Houston's death, but rather about her inability to embrace her self while on this earth.  What impacts me even more deeply is the fact that many of us experience the same desperation seeking release in a variety of obsessions.  The emotional isolation that goes undetected in those we love so dearly, concerns me greatly.  To be left helplessly watching someone spiral out of control is even worse.  

The best thing we can do, perhaps, is to live each day as meaningful as we can, embracing others with sincere compassion while maintaining a balance between spiritual and material existence.  Try to begin each day with gratitude for all of our blessings and keep seeking for the Divine connection within.

***Elisabeth Kubler-Ross wrote a wonderful book about death and dying that opened my youthful eyes and broadened my earlier adult concepts about life.  Later, she wrote a book on death and dying of children which was one of the most difficult, yet inspiring books I have yet to read.