Why It Is Necessary to Live NOW

Posted by Arin Vahanian at 7/27/2008 7:30 AM
Categories: uncategorized
Recently, I saw enough death and morbidity in a single day to last me the rest of my life. And I hope to prove by this statement that today is the best day of my life and that today my breakfast tasted better than anything I ever had before...let me explain.
 
One beautiful Saturday morning, I went to my local hospital for a routine physical exam. I entered the monolithic, colossal building and was instructed to first go downstairs and get two photos taken of myself. I soon found the elevator and pressed the button for B2.
 
As soon as I got out of the elevator, WHAM – I ran smack-dab into a huge sign that read "Morgue." I nearly laughed out loud, as it caught me by surprise. And I thought to myself, “No, not yet!”
 
After getting the two photos taken, I walked back to the elevator, again seeing the enormous sign displaying "Morgue." This time I stood right in front of it for about 30 seconds and stared straight at it, figuring that there was no one else down there, and for good reason - as far as I know, dead people cannot get up and walk around.
 
Yes my friends, that is what awaits all of us, at least on this physical Earth, and that's why I took 30 seconds to stare at that sign.
 
I went back upstairs and to the examination area, where they were going to check my height, weight and blood pressure, and saw this old bald man in a wheelchair who reminded me of Telly Savalas, only he looked far worse. Well, technically speaking, he would have looked better than Telly, since Telly has been dead and buried for the last 13 years.
 
Anyway, he had his mouth wide open, his eyes in some kind of daze, and was sprawled onto the wheelchair, unable to move. He was probably a stroke victim.
 
I stopped and stared at him for a good 10 seconds, as he would not have been able to respond anyway. The poor guy probably wasn’t even aware of what was going on, nor would he have even had the ability to get up and tell me off for staring at him.
 
But that old man could be any one of us in a few years, so it is best that we move now, and get going toward our goals right away.
 
Thus I moved right along and got those tests done, then went downstairs and got my blood and urine samples taken care of. And that was the end of my physical exam, though not the end of the death and morbidity I witnessed that day.
 
I went outside and started walking back to my apartment, and along the way I saw a group of four or five adorable Chihuahuas, all running around and prancing playfully. Until one of them wandered out onto the street and WHAM - it was quickly turned into a heaping mess of blood and guts by a car that sideswiped it.
 
As the dog lay on the road, gushing blood like a small fountain, a little girl stood there crying her eyes out. A man calmly walked over to the dog, picked it up by its legs and dropped it into a nearby bush, while the other Chihuahuas curiously looked on, and then went over to it. I don’t know what happened afterward, as by that time I had already walked away, since there was nothing I could do about it. That whole scene I just described took no more than about 15 seconds.
 
And so it is with our lives, on this physical planet Earth. Your life on this material planet Earth can be ended in seconds.
 
I have told you this not to look like some morbidly depressed psychopath. I have told you this to remind you that there is limited time to give the world the gifts that you have inside. And it all starts with RIGHT NOW, the present moment.
 
But because you may not be able to relate with an old man or a Chihuahua, here’s a story about a young man.
 
A few months ago, I attended a networking group meeting, at which attendees give each other business referrals and help each other increase awareness of their businesses. After the meeting, I gave myself these three pieces of advice: savor and truly appreciate each day you are alive and healthy, understand and accept that tomorrow might be your last day, and forget about little annoyances that do not matter in the grand scheme of things.
 
The inspiration came from a really kind girl, who works for an insurance company. At the meeting, she told us about her 28-year-old boyfriend, who recently contracted lymphoma. For those of you who don't know what lymphoma is, it's basically a cancer of the immune system.
 
In other words, this is some serious stuff that can kill you.
 
So if I depart from this Earth tomorrow, I will be grateful just the same, and I will leave with open arms, just like I arrived. I won't be upset, ungrateful, annoyed, disappointed, or anything else like that, because I've been given 30 years of gifts every single morning, and for that, I am eternally grateful.
 
Similarly, I refuse to let small, insignificant things upset or bother me, because they mean absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things. I let them slide out of my life, and I let good things slide in.
 
A man's soul is his castle, and thus a man must only let into his castle that which represents all that is good and right in this world. His mindset and attitude are also part of his castle, and so he should keep both of these positive, regardless of what life throws at him.
 
If life throws something at you, well, you don't always have to play. You don't have to play catch with life. You can just refuse to pick up the ball, and instead be on your merry way, for you have a purpose, a vision, and goals.
 
Indeed, ours is a divine purpose! Really realize this, really let this sink into every part of you...your purpose is a divine purpose! Have you ever thought of that before? How many of you have actually considered that your purpose is a divine one?
 
What you're here for is to actualize your divine purpose. That is what you are here for.
 
So don't let yourself down, and don't let your multitude of "fans" down. There's a whole world waiting out there to receive your gifts, starting today.
 
And part of being able to deliver those gifts to the world is by cultivating the right attitude, and that attitude is this: savor and truly appreciate each day you are alive and healthy, understand and accept that tomorrow might be your last day, and forget about little annoyances that do not matter in the grand scheme of things.
 
I sincerely hope that 28-year-old guy recovers and beats the lymphoma, just like one of my friends beat leukemia. But no matter what happens, I want you to fully understand and accept that that 28-year-old could have been you. The fact that it isn't you is a gift that you must be grateful for.
 
But in today's society, most people do not have lymphoma - they have other things instead. They have anxiety, inaction, and unhappiness. Those can be killers of life just as much as lymphoma is. So let's not let that happen to any of us!
 
The next time you feel the urge to get angry about something, ask yourself, "Is this really worth getting upset about? Will this contribute to me enjoying my life more? Why not start enjoying my life right now and being grateful for everything, no matter what happens?"
 
You can start as of right now, if you haven't already started.
 
Life happens right now. Good things happen right now. Happiness is right now.
 
In the self-help community, they often point out that the average person in a first-world developed country lives about 28,000 days (nearly 77 years). 
 
Just out of curiosity, I decided to figure out how many days I have lived so far, knowing it would be a real motivator for me to up my intensity toward my purpose/goals even more.
 
I'm 30 years old, so that would be about 10,950 days lived so far. But I didn't just turn 30, so I'll have to take all the days after my 30th birthday into account too.
 
So that's a total of 11,119 days lived so far.
 
Some of you have lived more days than I have and some of you less than I have. Go ahead and total it up...it will really put things in perspective and make you understand just how valuable your time is.
 
But the more important question here is, how many days do we have left?
 
That's the crucial question, and unfortunately, not one we can answer.
 
Which means that every day we get is a precious gift, and one that we shouldn't fritter away doing useless things or making excuses for ourselves.
 
The time is NOW, my friends...RIGHT NOW.
 
Let's ask ourselves, are we doing all that we can to further our true core purposes every day?
 
If we're not, then we need to seriously make some changes RIGHT NOW and make sure that we start fulfilling our true purposes RIGHT NOW.
 
The way I see it, I've gotten 30 years of continuous presents every morning, in the form of life. So I want to make the best use of these presents, because I don't know how many more I have left. None of us knows how many more presents we have left.
 
Thirty years of presents, delivered unto me every morning. And I can honestly say for the first time in my life, I'm truly taking advantage of these presents. Because I consider the possibility that next week might be my last.
 
But there is no way of knowing how much time I have left - so I care not how much time I have, I care how I spend the time I have. So this week, how will you spend the time you have?
 
Will you go after things you want? Or continue making excuses, such as: "It can't be done," "It's impossible," "It's not for me," "I didn’t want it anyway," "What will my family think," "Life shouldn't be so difficult," etc.
 
Life actually isn't difficult or easy - it simply doesn't care about you. Stop thinking life should be easy, or that it is difficult and should be overcome. 
 
In fact, stop thinking so much, and just keep moving forward. That's the problem we have nowadays. We intellectualize life too much, when we should just be living it.
 
It all happens RIGHT NOW.
 
Go for it!

 

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