Life is.....

   When I was about 30 years old, I realized that there were certain individuals that had greater impact or significance in my life.  They came from different arenas of life, different roles, different backgrounds and cultures, it took me a while to figure out what was the common thread between them and why they weren't like  everyone else in my life.

  By the time I was able to define the link that made them stand out in my life, I had made other realizations enabling me to see a bigger picture of life, impact and living.  The epiphany that came first was silly, amazing and very funny!  Besides being completely true it is a unique way of seeing life that started to change everything for me.  I will suggest, it gave me new eyes with which to see the world!

"Life is a sexually transmitted disease that will kill us all."

   It still makes me laugh more than a decade later to read it or speak it.  So what is so amazing about this statement other than being true?  Well, think of it this way, the leading cause of death is life!  I have never met anyone who died that didn't have a case of living first.

   This realization led me to a couple more, next that most people in life have missed the first realization and were trying to survive life.  The sad consequences of this perspective is that it rips living right out of the breast of life it'self!  Because trying is a lie, no one gets out alive.  We will all die from it. No use in getting upset about it, won't help.

   The final realization I feel is so necessary to share with everyone who will listen or consider is that the purpose of life then,  IS TO LIVE!

   These rare individuals who changed my life, had impact, provided real direction and vision were the ones who knew how to live life!  Whether they knew it or not, they had made a decision to pay less attention to the things that don't matter no matter how much these things wanted to pretend otherwise.  They were also paying more attention to or focusing on the few items of real significance in life.

   Here is the challenge,  to divine between all the stuff in our lives and get to the heart of living.  To figure out what matters and then separate things into basic guidelines so we can act accordingly.  There are things that urgent and unimportant, things that are important and not urgent, things that are not urgent or important and still worth doing, things that simply don't matter or have any positive impact or outcome, and lastly the very few things that are both important and urgent.

   Only you can make the determination in your life about what is what.  Once you start applying this to the events and demands of your life you will find that it greatly simplifies and clarifies things.  It even reduces stress! (Who does want that?) I will admit to losing sight of this regularly, it take practice. Lot's of practice.

  May we all find the meat of our lives in this day.  I pray that each and everyone of you will find just a bit more "life" in living.

Peace and good Living to you and yours.

Billy B.