Too Young to Die

When you don’t value your time on this planet enough is when you don’t see the need to live a focused life. 

Life is an absolutely precious gift that can be taken away at any time. This is a fact not something that is debatable. 

When I was 21 years old a friend of mine passed away. My friend was a year younger than me and was in great health at that time. A health complication arose suddenly and he was gone within 48 hours. The day he died just happened to be on the day that I met my guru for the second time in my life. In my conversation with Gurudeva (my guru) that day about this, he said to me “You’re never too young to die.” 

Those words resonated deeply with me. I had never looked at it that way but I realized what he said was true. We assume, ignorantly, that if we are young and have good health that we will live until we are old. That is not the case and it has never been the case.  

As I always say, “Life is not short but rather life is finite.”

Once we become conscious of the fragility of life we realize that every minute that we have on this planet is a precious gift. The question is how do we use this gift wisely?

For me, it’s living every minute intentionally in alignment with one’s purpose in life. For this you need to develop focus. You need to develop a strong level of concentration. A level of concentration that can allow you to keep your awareness engaged in the priorities that are defined by your purpose in life.  

Most people waste time like it is an infinite resource that they have. 

When you can concentrate you can be present in every experience you have. You can truly experience the special moments with your loved ones and friends. The by-product of which is that you feel happy. And I think it’s fair for me to assume that most, if not all of us, want to be happy. 

Happiness is a by-product of living a certain lifestyle. It’s not to be pursued. It comes when you live a lifestyle that results in this emotion. 

Where do we start with this? By identifying our priorities in life. Who and what is important to us. Developing Unwavering Focus so that you can focus on your priorities in life. 

What’s the great impetus for doing so? The fact that life is finite. Whether you acknowledge this or not, whether you remember this each day or not, it is a fact that no one can argue against. 

The South Indian weaver-sage, Tiruvalluvar, so eloquently shared over 2,200 years ago the following, “Though it seems a harmless gauge of time, to those who fathom it, a day is a saw steadily cutting down the tree of life.”   

Learn to focus. Practice it. Become good at it. Become very good at it. This will allow you to turn your gaze inward and stay focused long enough to begin to discover your purpose in life. Now you can begin living a purpose-focused life. One of the by-products of this is happiness. 

After all, as Gurudeva says, “Life is meant to be lived joyously.”