What was the best gift you received for Christmas? Do you still love it, 6 weeks later or have you moved on already?

There’s one gift that we’ve all received and which most of us tend to take for granted – the gift of our lives.

Last year, I attended 4 funerals – one of an elderly parent of a family member, two of people who were more or less my age, and the final one was of a young child, who died quite unexpectedly.  It’s true, life goes in cycles.  As we leave childhood and adolescence behind us, we go through the ‘adult’ cycle of graduations, twenty firsts, engagements, weddings, a few christenings (and these days ‘baby showers’ before the birth of the baby) and then the ‘significant’ birthday parties, divorces and remarriages. I’m now at that part of the cycle where funerals are also in the mix. It started with my own father’s funeral, then funerals of parents of friends and family, all of which were easy to rationalise – these were older people who’d mostly led long lives and reached a ripe old age. Now, there are also funerals of contemporaries, which are less easy to rationalise.  We’re all still so young.
 
The funerals last year of my contemporaries and the little child, in particular, really made me stop and think about my own life and mortality. We aren’t on this earth forever. So, why do we live our lives as though we are here forever?  None of us know when our moment to depart this earth will be. Yet, year in, year out, so many people simply drift on as though their lives will never end.

Think about it. How was last year for you? Did you enrich your relationships? Did you achieve everything you set out to do?  In fact, did you actually set out to do anything specific? (Many people were like rabbits in the headlights, as a result of the global financial meltdown.)  How many people did you fall out with and how many pointless arguments did you have with people who really matter to you?

One of our friends, who died very shortly after being diagnosed cancer, said to me the last time I saw him that for the first time in his life (weeks before he died) he could finally say that he was truly happy. He was surrounded by the people he loved and who loved him, he’d made his peace with people who were important to him, whom he’d drifted away from, and he was living each day as it came, savouring each moment as the precious, delicious gift it was. Nothing else counted. Money, material possessions, status etc weren’t important. He’d been a well known business owner in the business community and by all accounts had been quite a tough businessman. He implored me to make sure in my work that other leaders and people in positions of authority really understood what he’d just discovered in the last months of his life: nothing matters as much as love and our relationships with the people around us. And although he may have been tough and fallen out with people along the way, from the size of the congregation and the eulogies at his funeral, it’s clear that in his own way he’d been a very generous and inspiring person. If only he’d realised the importance of all those relationships earlier in his life.

You may not have the opportunity to make your peace, as our friend did.  The lights could just simply go out on you. Anyway, why wait for a terminal illness. The moment is now!
 
So,  seize the day – CARPE DIEM!  Make some conscious choices and set some goals (that include your relationships – personal and professional) so that you live each day as the precious gift that it is.  If you do that, perhaps 2010 will be a more memorable and wonderful year for you.

And remember, if you want some help to get clear on what you want for yourself and to plan your goals for the year and beyond, some coaching can help.   I’m also running a workshop in Auckland on 20 February to help you do plan properly for 2010 and beyond. Your investment is small – $150 plus GST for the whole day. The first workshop held in Auckland this week has been a huge success. So, hurry and book your place!  Want to know more?  Email me at yvonne@strategicdirection.co.nz, visit the Strategic Direction page on Facebook  or call me for more details.

Tags: Carpe Diem, christmas gift, gift, goal, Goal Setting, love and work, plan, reflecting on mortality, relationships, review, Reviewing your life

This entry was posted on Tuesday 2nd February 2010 and is filed under Personal Development. Both comments and pings are currently closed.