In a cd by John Maxwell, he talked about the fact that when you die people will sum you up in one sentence, so select it now and live it purposefully. I heard a great quote by a Bollywood actor Kamalahasan, who said that death is to life as a period is to a sentence. Combining these two ideas, I’d like to set this idea up for you to think about. Death is inevitable, as is the punctuation at the end of a sentence. What kind of life sentence do you desire: is it long, but run-on; mediocre and useless; short and sweet; succinct and intelligent; wise and humorous; and or full of passion and vitality? It is up to you, as it is your life. Pick it now, then live it so that your thoughts, words and actions all reflect your truth (as Colette Carlson calls it), all reflect your life sentence.
The quote I mentioned above likened death to a period, but I would like to add that death could be a period, a question mark or an exclamation point to your life. What I mean by this is not the manner of your death, but that the perspective on your end will highly depend on how you lived that life.
The way I would classify it is this:
1. Period – would simply signify an end to a life;
2. Question mark – would reflect an end with many regrets on the part of those left, wondering and questioning for what reason the life moaned was truly on earth;
3. Exclamation – would signify a dynamic life, full and vibrant, lived such that even death cannot wipe away the far reaching legacy left by that life.
What would I choose? With deep thought, I would have to say #3. I want to influence people significantly even after my death, like the late Gandhi or Jim Rohn and many others before them. Before I started on my leadership journey, I think my choices would have led to #1. I just wanted comfort and safety, nothing too risky. Unfortunately, here is the crux of the problem as well as an opportunity: life is always changing, every microscopic part of life as well as the big picture is always changing. So being safe by being comfortable would have led me to a mediocre life and then it would have inevitably ended. My journey taught me to ask these questions instead: why not embrace change (except for the deep values aligned with your soul)? and why not opt for doing something extraordinary? I decided my life is worthwhile to do something worthwhile.
Some of the things I am doing are these: teaching my children in home school. I like to say “my children are the living messages I will send to a time and place I will never be, but will have an opportunity to influence through them.” This is a variation to the quote by John W. Whitehead “children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see.” I am also in constant personal study on spirituality, leadership, finances, family life, couple-hood, parenting and fitness. I am also in the process of engaging in a new career path in alignment with my purpose, totally different from my previous one in engineering and computer programming. You will have to find your own path, your own purpose. A very useful, but somewhat morbid sounding exercise I did was to write my own obituary, now. It really registers what is important deep down when one puts the thought into doing this. It helped me come up with my life sentence, which is this: “I live and love to inspire others to live their truth by living mine and I do it with joy, peace and grace; I will die for truth.”. I would love to hear your life sentences, please write me with them and more importantly start living them now.
Remember, on your tombstone, there will be two dates, your birth and your death dates (you have no control over these ultimately). But wait, there will be something else: a dash between the dates, the meaning of which you have control over. Choosing your life sentence now, living it with passion and purpose ultimately means that you give meaning to the dash on your grave stone, you choose to matter to the world, you choose to make some difference, and you choose to leave a legacy.
As the late and wise Jim Rohn has said many times “Look in the mirror, there is your problem, as well as your solution.” “You cannot change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction over-night.” So, what are you waiting for? Go, figure out your passion, create your life sentence, live it and love it.
