Reminders

I learned over the weekend that and old acquaintance had suffered a cardiac arrest while alone at home. He is not doing well. 

These reminders of what life is really like are important. None of us is guaranteed this afternoon or tomorrow or the next.day. This is heard as abstract philosophy by those who have not suffered significant personal loss. However, they are as vulnerable as any of us to sudden death or disability. 

Living life as though all will always be as it is lies at the root of many human problems. My life is changing on the most elemental level every moment of every day. My environment is a sea of change all around me. Each body has a limited amount of heart beats. We are physical beings, living machines, which have limited ability to sustain trauma and aging. Believing otherwise is simply delusion. 

Getting on with what matters every day is one way of using this awareness of life's fragility. Is making money worth losing the time to enjoy those people whom you love? Is an image or a career worth anything when you are dying? I can testify that the worth of a life at its end is measured by what a person has done throughout a life to be at peace within. 

I am grateful for this most recent reminder as I experience sadness over my friend's suffering. I look ahead and practice. Much of my life is not within my conscious control. I can only control my practice for as long as I can do so.