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Blog 517 – 01.07.2017
Having, Happening, Being

Having is much on the minds of many people today. But one only truly has what one can afford to give away otherwise it owns you not the other way around. The very idea of possessing things is an illusion. Nevertheless is not just a word but a theme to many of us in our breakneck dash to aquire more possessions, more things, more toys. Many, indeed, think of life as it is depicted on gravetones as a dash between two dates. Another thing about gravestones is that they remind us all of an age-old question, “Then whose will these things be?”

Another way of looking at life is to consider another question, “What’s happening?” There is so much to experience, places to see, people to meet. It is common to think of our life as a journey, the sum total of our experiences. Many of us have a “bucket list” of places we would like to see, things we would like to do before this mad dash ends. Some people even think that happiness depends, on things, other people or what happens in their life. What happens happens but true happiness, blessedness, is yours no matter what. It is your birth right and cannot be revoked or amended no matter what happens.

I prefer to think of happiness and life itself as being rather than doing, or having, or even a journey really – just being. We are called human beings. The great question that Hamlet asks is not, “To have or not to have?”, “To happen or not to happen?”, but, “To be or not to be?” Try just being. Take a quiet moment and in the stillness – just breath, just be. Try to make it a practice each day to take a moment to remind yourself life is so much more than the dash between those two dates. As the saying goes, “Life is what you make it.” Take time to be to just live deliberately.

I close with a tired old joke that still makes me smile. I hope it will you too.

“What is life?”

“It’s a magazine.

“How much does it cost?”

“Two bucks.”

“That’s too much.”

“That’s life.”

Your friend and fellow traveler,

David White