At first, understand that you are dying

 Without an instruction manual. This is how we show up in this world.

Without guidelines on which direction to go. 

Without signposts. 

That single moment when we say goodbye to the womb forever is the purest moment of the unwritten page of our history.

Paradoxically, the moment of our birth is the beginning of dying. However, we are not aware of how long this process will last. 

Today, a topic that has been close to my heart for a long time. Dying. 

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I deliberately wrote that the moment of our birth is the beginning of dying. I wrote that because there is only one direction. 

The intention of this post, however, is not to despair over the fact of dying. On the contrary. The purpose is to praise life. I have often reflected on the fact that awareness of mortality should give us motivation to make our lives characterised by honesty. Toward ourselves. By living in harmony with ourselves, we do not lie to the person we are closest to throughout our lives. Ourselves.

There is an English saying: “Practice what you preach”. I like to verify my own conduct according to this principle. And I'll honestly admit that I often catch myself when I don't quite get it right. And then I face verification. Sometimes you have to make a decision to calibrate your own behavior or your own beliefs. What we think about ourselves is not always true. However, this was not supposed to be about me but about dying.

Sometimes inspiration comes at a completely unexpected moment. And as with many of the entries on this blog, the same was true in this case. However, I will write about it at the very end.

Back to the main topic.

Do you think about the fact that you are dying? Do you think about the fact that perhaps today is the last moment when your physicality will be able to represent your consciousness? And if you answer in the affirmative, what about it? What action do you take as a result? Or any action at all?

My master says that life is lived forward, but understood backward. There is a great danger in this, because the moment we reach the end of our journey, we may realize that we were too focused on what shoes we were given to walk in, instead of looking around and taking in all that appears around us.

“Travel. Preferably with someone you love. 

Love someone who is worth it.”

I have written more than once about love. I guess we are raised in such a way that telling another person I love you comes with great pain. That first moment when we write down our hitherto blank sheet of paper is childhood. The first sentence that should be written on our piece of paper is I love you. 

Love, according to me, is the first foundation on which we should build our being. And the first teachers who should say these words are parents. The verification of whether our children know the value of these words comes when they come to us on their own and speak these words in our direction. 

Do those you love know about it? Have you told them? Do. Tomorrow the opportunity may be gone.

Don't succumb to digital illusion. Algorithms are opium for the masses.

Instead of posts - have memories. Instead of likes - choose the forest.

I have been thinking a lot about experiencing lately. 

We often hear around to get the most out of life, meanwhile we often limit ourselves or our loved ones.

I will again step into the role of a parent. “Don't do it or you'll get dirty”, 'What do you need it for, you'll play a few minutes and throw it away', 'Get over it or you'll hurt yourself yet'.Sending such signals in the child's side makes us kill their desire to experience. We destroy what is most beautiful in them, what often what adults we have lost. Delight in the world around us.

It is difficult to break free from this trap. But according to the principle of “practice what you preach,” I try to verify and calibrate my action. My role as a parent is not to stifle the child and kill the awe of the world in him. In my opinion, the role of a parent is to give the child back the opportunity to experience the world and taste it in every way. Being somewhere nearby in case the desire to taste this world brings danger. Children know how to take risks, something we adults try to beware of like fire. Once my father-in-law during a certain situation said that without risk there is no fun. It was kind of funny in that situation, but there is a great deal of universal truth in those words.

When we understand that we are dying perhaps the desire to experience the world with all its flavors and colors will grow in us? Perhaps we will become children again to some extent....

Every day the realisation grows in me how much influence our environment has on us. It creates our personality to a great extent. Therefore, it is worth surrounding ourselves with what supports us. It is worth reviewing the contents of our “portfolio” of friendships. Do the people around us serve with a kind word. Do they support you when you need it? When you make a decision that is important to you, do they try to discourage you from your intended plan, or do they support you in your goal when they know how important that goal is to you? 

Are the messages that reach us supportive? Do they give us “wings” to act, or rather, on the contrary, undercut them. Once a long time ago, when politics was still at the epicenter of my interests, I listened non-stop to the news served 24 hours a day. I fed on negative information (note that there is almost zero good information in public news outlets). This resulted in perpetual nervousness about issues , over which I had absolutely no influence. My attitude has evolved and I now limit my news intake (although not as much as I would like). I now more often ask myself if I have any influence on an issue, if the answer is negative, I just accept it as it is and move on. I try not to waste my energy on something over which I have no influence.

Pet the dog. Show your heart

In front of the mirror, stand without shame

Perhaps it's the result of emotional maturation, but I'm discovering that opening up to another person about who I am makes me happy. In a world where we bury ourselves deep in our caves and dress in thick skins so that no one can really see our vulnerability, being honest is brave. 

In a world where we're told that millions of likes determine success to be a nomad without likes.

The only like I fight for every day is the one from my loved ones. When my older son sits down next to me on the couch to watch a movie with me in the evening, when my younger son grabs my hand during a walk, when I can't wait to hug my wife and look forward to every conversation we have, it's that one like that beats millions of digital ones. 

To be able to stand in front of the mirror and recognize that other person. And this is not an easy task. We learn ourselves every day. There are days that we don't recognize ourselves. Sometimes we let ourselves be controlled in one way or another. Sometimes we let our emotions rule us. Giving up power is easy. Too easy. Meanwhile, having power over our own lives comes with responsibility, and yet we don't want to be responsible. Sometimes it's easier to put the responsibility on external factors, on other people. 

If I don't achieve the goal I set, I don't blame others. By blaming, we put the power over our lives in someone else's hands. 

You have the right not to know what you want

Uncertainty is a daily occurrence

No one has a recipe for the universal truth of life. We live as we know how and in the way we have been taught. As our lives pass and we pass we learn new truths. Both about ourselves and the reality around us. My recipe for life does not have to be yours at all. We make mistakes. A whole lot of them. We are imperfect. Flawed. Both physically and mentally.  However, we possess the ability to change. Every morning when we successfully open our eyelids is a chance to take on the challenge of change. It does not have to be fundamental. Such takes time. Life is made up of days and days are made up of hours. If you strive to make a positive change in your life for an hour, you have already changed 1/24th of your day. The running adventure taught me an extremely important thing. Namely, that a half marathon (which I had the pleasure of committing to) consists of 21097.5 meters. Every single one is important. Both the first one and the ten-thousandth one. Our lives are also made up of such “meters.” Thinking about the whole distance, we may never take up the challenge. And the feeling of pleasure comes only when we overcome the distance and look back at what we have accomplished. This is worth remembering.

Sing as if the world is about to end

When you accomplish it, tell me how? 

Tell me how? 

Tell me how?