It’s so easy to take for granted that tomorrow will come, that another opportunity will be given to bear witness to a sunset, take a walk in the forest, listen in awe to the birds, or share a moment of connection with the one in front of us.
But another part knows how fragile it truly is here, how tenuous, and how this opening will not be here forever.
It’s so easy to fall under the trance of postponement and the spell of tomorrow.
At the end of this life, it is unlikely we'll be too concerned with whether we accomplished all the tasks on our to-do lists, played it safe, or resolved our unending self-improvement project.
Inside these hearts there may be only one burning question: how well did I love?
One day we will no longer be able to look at, touch, or share a simple moment with those we love. When we turn to them, they will be gone.
One moment will be our last to experience awe at a color or a fragrance or the blooming of a violet, or to enter into union with the vastness of the sea.
It will be our last chance to see a universe in a drop of rain, to have a moment of communion with a friend, or to weep as the light yields to the night sky.
One last moment to have a thought, feel an emotion, fall in love, or listen to a piece of music. To know heartbreak, joy, sorrow, and peace—to behold the outrageous mystery of what it truly means to be a sensitive human being.
What if today is that last day? Or tomorrow? Or later this week?
Knowing that death will come, how will we respond to the sacred and brief appearance of life?
Perhaps our “life’s purpose” has nothing to do with what we’ve fantasied it to be about, but simply to fully live, to touch each moment with our presence and our one, wild heart.
And do whatever we can to help others, to hold them when they are hurting, to speak kind words, to listen carefully to the ways they are attempting to make sense of a world that has gone a bit mad.
To slow down and bear witness to the erupting miracle of the other as it appears in front of us.
Perhaps this is the most radical gift we can give, to offer ourselves as a true healing space in which love can find its way and come alive here.
Attuning to he heartbeat of the earth, Lappohja Beach, Southern Finland
