The value of my life

There is this cliché of sayings that was once very popular (you might even have received one as an email attachment):
 
To realise the value of one year, ask a student who failed a grade.
To realise the value of one month, ask a mother who has given birth to a premature baby.
To realise the value of one week, ask the editor of a weekly newspaper.
To realise the value of one hour, ask the lovers who are waiting to meet.
To realise the value of one minute, ask a person who just missed a train.
To realise the value of one second, ask someone who just avoided an accident.
To realise the value of one millisecond, ask the person who won a silver medal at the Olympics.

 
I don’t know about you, but reading it sure made me think and ponder over my perception of time.
 
I like it because it serves as a reminder that time is precious and that I really should be living my life the way I want it to be. Although of course, that may not always be possible since more often than not, we have people liking to tell us the way life should be led.
 
These days, when I call people up and ask if they mind me ‘ trial-teaching’ a yoga session, the first question they will ask is, “Why are you doing this?” This may sometimes be followed by a comment “Wah, you very free, no need work”. Some others may express admiration at my zest to pursue my interest.
 
But just what is there to be envious about? What is there to admire about my plans? It puzzles me.
 
At moments like that, I can’t help but remember what Weiling said during one of the sessions, that people nowadays tending to bury themselves beneath layers and layers. To the point in which they forget about their true selves.
 
Just what do we see life as?
 
As an endless episode of pursuits- the next management position, the bigger pay pocket and the grander house?
 
Or the continuum of goals- the extravagant holiday, a library of tech-gadgets and a Swiss account with uncountable cash?
 
Truth be told, we ourselves create the cellars to imprison ourselves.
 
We are trapped within the prisons of sense gratification because we fall into the falsehood that all that is what life is about.
 
Seriously, what is life about?
 
Here’s a related analogy that might also be useful:
 
Imagine there is a bank account that credits your account each morning with $86,400. It carries over no balance from day to day. Every evening the bank deletes whatever part of the balance you failed to use during the day.

What would you do? Draw out every cent, I suppose?
Each of us has such a bank account. Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds. Every night it writes off as lost, whatever of this you have failed to invest to a good purpose.
It carries over no balance. It allows no over draft. Each day it opens a new account for you. Each night it burns the remains of the day.
If you fail to use the day’s deposits, the loss is yours. There is no drawing against “tomorrow.”
You must live in the present on today’s deposits.
This bank is time.


If there is anything about me that one should be envious about, it would be that I try to live my life pursuing the things I know can bring me bliss.
 
I say ‘try’ because I don’t always succeed. Like everyone, I have to deal with contention, but this almost-morbid motto echoes constantly as a reminder:
 
Live each day like your last.
 
Because that is what life is about: 86,400 seconds. 24 hours. 1 day.
 
If only we can stop thinking of life as some big project that will happen in 10 years.
 
Life is now. It happens every moment, every second, every hour, every day. It happens all the time. Since you were born to when you are going to die.
 
And truth be told, I am really glad about my decision to pursue Yoga Teacher’s Training, because it has reinforced my life’s value and beliefs.
 
Like what Paalu said, every individual’s path has been carved out the moment he/she is born. It is just that the trails are bleak. Our job in this lifetime, is to find the path.
 
And that, for me, is what life is about.

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