Learning how to live

Post written by Suraj Shah.

How do we know that we are really living?  How do we know that we are making the most of this precious life?

Only once you master the art of dying, do you really learn how to live.

Taking life for granted

I’m approaching 30, and I’ve taken it for granted that I’ll live till 80. I imagine I’ll have a full 50 years of my life to live out all my dreams and desires.

I’ll have 50 whole years to build up my business, to start and grow the family, to have a healthy lifestyle, to travel widely, to advance spiritually.

If I have 50 years, surely I can afford to put some of these important things off till tomorrow, right? Surely tomorrow will always be there…

But do I really know that I’ll live a full life to be 80? There are certainly no guarantees.

Length of life is not guaranteed

Our ayushya karma that we are bound with in each life determines the span of that life and we generally don’t know what that number is. So yes, we could live to the ripe old age of 80 and beyond, or our life could come to an end tomorrow, or even within the next hour.

This life could come to a close within the next few moments, and would leave so many dreams and wishes unfulfilled.

So knowing all this, what choices can we make about how we wish to live and how we wish to utilise each living moment?

Choosing how to live

  1. Contemplate on what this life really means to you.
  2. List out what’s important for you to spend your life doing.
  3. Pick out the most important thing on that list and focus your thoughts onto it.
  4. Do that today.

What have you chosen to focus your attention and energy on today?