Cancer

It has been a tough 2008. The last six months have been quite challenging. In July my good friend Michael passed away from colorectal cancer. He was 32 years old. My cousin Alyssa continues to fight her battle with a form of brain cancer. An aunt was also diagnosed with breast cancer during this same time period. Cancer just seems to be everywhere and it's a shame. More effort and money has to be allocated toward cancer treatment, research, and an eventual cure. At the same time the health care system continues to fail millions and now we are in a recession where many of us are uncertain about what the future holds, economically. I am fortunate to have an apartment I like, a job that pays the bills, good health insurance, great family and friends. My health could be better but it is good considering my age, and I look pretty good as well, so I really can't complain. I hope 2009 brings more stability to every one's life and more change in their pockets. This is a tough time all around, but we need to hang in there together and not give up. As long as you have a friend to talk to, life will be O.K.

"A New Earth"

I finished reading “A New Earth” by Eckart Tolle earlier this summer. I have been on a spiritual path for most of my life, trying to make sense of it all. I have to say this book was very helpful. Like all spiritual self-help books, there is no real evidence that what the writer is saying is of absolute truth, however his points do make intellectual sense. Like millions of people, I was born a soul searching for meaning my entire life. I think I starting questioning things in my mid teens and continue to do so as I age. What I got out of this book is that some people, many actually, just don’t ask life questions. Many are stuck in their heads making up things that either don’t exist or are of little of not importance in the greater scheme of life. We all deal with some level of fear; the greatest of them all is the fear of death.

One of the major messages of Tolle’s book is that the true essence of life occurs in the present moment. Millions of people spend a lot of their mental energy on the past, stuck on resentments or past pain and trauma. Many also are so much invested in their future plans like what job they want, where they will live, how much money they will gain, who they will marry, how many kids will they have, that they do not appreciate the present time.

Back to death, something most human beings fear, Tolle says that if you believe you are life itself and your soul is eternal, then there really is no such thing as death, therefore there is nothing to fear. Now I am one who does not deal with death well and every encounter, whether personal or a death of a celebrity I connect with, makes me feel the coming of my own mortality. Though, as I get older the goal of my spiritual journey is to accept what my life has been to the present moment. I believe and accept that it has meant something in the greater scheme of things, if not to at least one individual, and that when it is my time to go I should not fear the transition.

In any event, no matter what one’s spiritual or religious path, I really do feel that we all go to the same place in the end and only chose our own path to that destination. Life is good and worth exploring to the fullest. I aim to learn as much as I can while I’m here and move on to the next place as connected to it from this end as is humanly possible.

Feeling Good

I am feeling good these days. I was in a rut for a while, but things are starting to look brighter. I am letting go of a lot of "should haves" and "could haves" and trying to just be. I am trying hard not to get all obsessed about the past or the future, and just be in the moment. It is tough, but worth the effort. I recently started listening to the audio iTune version of "A New Earth" the book Oprah is pushing, about finding a purposeful life. So far so good. I may even buy the book, but I'll let you know how that goes. Today, I am just enjoying the day and looking forward to the weekend, and spending some quality time with a good friend and some family near by. My place is a mess though. Since I have not been on point I have let my dishes and laundry pile up, and now it is time to do some spring cleaning. I feel like the spring will bring a new spring to my step this year and improve my overall view of life. Life... It is good. Enjoy the Now. Yesterday is gone, tomorrow may never come. All we really have is Now.