Am I proud of how I have lived?

Am I proud of how I have lived ?

If you don’t express the passion inside you – the ideas and deeds that make you feel alive – you will die one moment at a time without ever having lived.

Don’t be scared of death.  Be scared of leaving too much of your life un-lived.  Be scared of leading a tedious daily existence that doesn’t empower you to be your best self.  A fear of death is simply a fear that you haven’t yet accomplished what you were born to do.  When you live a fulfilling life that’s abundant in meaning the thought of dying becomes less worrisome, because your mind isn’t focused on it.  Instead, it’s consumed with living passionately in the present moment and embracing all the beauty that life has to offer.

Someday inevitability will take place and your life will flash before your eyes.  Make sure it’s a spectacle worth watching – one you’re proud to have been a part of.  

Some of the best discoveries in life come when you least expect them, in places you never even thought to look.  What you were not looking for can end up being more than you ever hoped to find.  So seek your goals and dreams diligently, but do not become so obsessed that you develop tunnel vision.  Do not blind yourself from all the unpredictable wonders and opportunities passing in your periphery.

Life’s greatest beauty is found in its surprises.  Its dynamic nature continually renews the possibilities before you; you honestly never can be certain when the next gust of wind will arrive and what it will blow in your direction.  Open yourself to these surprises.  Many of them will bring goodness you never knew you were missing.

Remember, you are never too old, too young, too busy, or too educated to find value and joy in new, unexpected opportunities.  So stay on the lookout, because with each step down the road of life you take, a fresh supply arrives.

Everything in life is gamble.  It’s either a daring, rewarding venture, or nothing at all.  You never know beforehand what you are capable of; you have to wait, practice and give it time.

It’s time and experience that controls your eventual destiny.  Time is like the deck of cards the dealer at a casino is pulling from; it holds all the possibilities.  When you sit down at the table, you can’t control the cards you are dealt, but you can control how you play each hand.  The more hands you play, the more experienced you get at playing the game.

You shouldn’t bet the farm, but you shouldn’t be overly conservative either.  Your bets are just learning experiments.  The more experiments you make, the better. 

Not every event in your life is your fault, but they are all your responsibility.  A combination of your decisions and external factors for which you had no control brought you to where you are in the world today.  Negatively blaming yourself, someone else, or some other force will change nothing.  Positively taking full responsibility for your situation and your path forward can change everything.

 As you diligently give yourself to the present moment.  In this moment is every possibility you seek.  Take responsibility for it, and bring these possibilities to life.

Every worthwhile goal requires a struggle to get there.  If your actions don’t take effort, you won’t make progress.  Wanting success without sacrifice is like trying to run before you learn to walk.  It’s like wanting a rainbow without the rain.  It’s like wanting oxygen in your lungs without making an effort to breathe.

There is scarcely any love, passion or fulfilment in life without reasonable effort.  Your struggle may be physical, it may be emotional, or it may be both.  In all cases it is necessary and worth every bit of strength you can muster.

True love is not a fleeting feeling, it’s not an equation that can be solved, and it’s certainly not a fairytale.  True love is the air you breathe, the ground you walk on, and the foundation for all human growth.  It’s the path for everything worthwhile, an energy that’s within you always, regardless of where you are or where you’re headed.

Many with Alzheimer's are living and involved with the day to day expectations of maximising it, despite cognitive decline due to the condition.
I recognise that while there is great sadness in losing one’s cognitive abilities, family members and caregivers can still share a wealth of love and moments of joy and laughter with people living with dementia. 

With the help of these occasional posts, I hope that our view of Alzheimer’s can, shift from “the long goodbye” to “the long hello.”

These posts and their content, are not intended to be flippant or disrespectful of the seriousness of the AD condition, but are intended to shine a light into the dark private places that can be depression and anxiety.

"My Contemplation, because". 

I sit and smoke my pipe in the garden because I love to;

because I love that environment , which is invariably beautiful, 

particularly on a warm sunny day 

and hate the environment where crowds of people are found, 

which are invariably always ugly; 

Because of all the sport, television competitions, parties, 

and assorted social posturing, I thus escape; 

because, in a world where most men seem to spend their lives doing things they hate. 

My contemplation is at once an endless source of delight and an act of small rebellion; 

because Chickens, Flowers,Bugs and animals do not lie or cheat and cannot be bought or bribed

or impressed by power, but respond only to the quiet,kindness, humility and endless patience;

because I suspect that I am going along this way for the last time, 

and I do not want to waste the trip. 

Because mercifully there are no bloody telephones ; 

because only in the garden can I find solitude without loneliness; 

because Wine out of a glass always tastes better out there; 

because maybe one day I will see something wonderful, 

like my smiling wife and sons; and, finally, 

not because I regard contemplation and smoking my pipe as being so terribly important, 

but because I suspect that so many of the other concerns of men are equally unimportant 

- and not nearly so much fun.