Motus Mentis

You’ve heard this a million times: “Life is short. Live every moment.”

But I’m going to say it again, myself, and I really, really mean it:

Life is short. Live every moment.

If there are people you care about, tell them. If you haven’t spoken to them in a while, get in touch. Find out how they are doing. Get together with them. Eat and drink with them. Tell the people you love that you love them, and tell them why. Pay attention to them. Listen when they speak. When you speak to them, tell them the things that really matter. Don’t pose. Be real. Be honest. Be honest with yourself.

If there are books you want to read, read them. If there are things you want to do “someday”, do them. If you have things you’d like people to know, tell them. If you’d like to do some writing, but haven’t found the time, make the time. If there are things you’d like to learn about, learn about them. Try to understand what’s going on.

When things are going well, be grateful. Count your blessings. When things are going badly, count them again.

Try to see beauty. It is everywhere. Everywhere.

Try to forgive people who irritate you. When people are stupid and unreasonable and annoying, try to think of them as just another objective feature of the world, like bad weather. Don’t take things so personally.

Try to be aware of yourself. Try not to be asleep. Try not to be so mechanical. Try to live less automatically.

Don’t take your body for granted. Pay attention to it. It will be grateful.

Go outside. Take a walk.

Remember that no matter how much you know, you know very little. Be like a child in this way.

Respect yourself, but don’t be too pleased with yourself. Try all the time to see what you really are.

Remember that everything and everybody has a time, and when that time is over it is over, forever. Your time will be over soon, too.

Life is short. Live every moment. I’m not kidding.