Day 39 The Passport to Life

Too many people put off living until tomorrow. “It’s raining today, I’ll wait until it’s sunny. I’m too tired today, I’ll wait until I have more energy. I am just finishing my exams but once I leave school, then I can really start to live”. Then it’s, “When I have a job or when I find a wife or a husband, then I’ll live”. Then it’s, “When I have children and or when the children have left home, then I will live”. Then it’s, “When I retire, then I will start to live.” However, by the time one retires, if we haven’t learnt to live by then, perhaps we never will. It is like being given a passport when one is born which can take us anywhere in the world. However, instead of using it, we put it safely in a drawer, waiting for the ‘right time’ to arrive before we can travel. That passport was meant to be full of stickers and stamps from all over the world. These places are not just physical places but places that our minds and hearts, souls and spirits have ventured to and come back from, with tales to tell and memories, thoughts and ideas we could never have discovered without them. Too many put life on hold until better times. But there are always things preventing us from living and if we wait for the perfect time, it will never arrive. You do not have to start using your passport by travelling as far as Timbuktu. It could be a visit to your local library and taking out four or five books about subjects that have always interested or fascinated you but which you have never had time to read about. It could be taking up a hobby or trying something new or baking a cake or walking on different paths or capturing your daily life through photos you’ve taken and a poem written at the end of the day, helping you recapture and reflect on the day. You will know when you’ve used your passport because there will be a stamp of some sort in it. Perhaps today is the day you learn to play chopsticks on the piano and by next year you might be playing a Bach Fugue. Today you might have written your first poem and next year you’ll be sharing them with friends or grandchildren. Today you might begin photography and next year be enjoyed on Instagram and have many followers. All journeys begin with a first step. Dare to step on ground you have never stepped on before. Find some of the ‘more’ out there waiting to be discovered by you. Don’t put off until tomorrow what you could begin today.

No one completes a symphony overnight. Each day the composer may only pen a few notes, but gradually over time, something rather wonderful begins to form. At the end of their life, that symphony will be played for all to listen to and marvel at. It is only those who daily lay down a few notes who will ever discover the symphony within them longing to be written. It takes time. It takes patience. Mistakes will be made and some sheets will be screwed up and thrown away. However, the joy of being able to hear at the end of one’s life all we have accomplished will be music to our ears. Get out your passport and plan your first visits. Enjoy them and have fun!!!

What things am I putting off until better times?

Looking through the passport of your life, how full is it? What could you do to fill up more pages?

What dreams do you have that you haven’t begun yet? What small steps could you take to begin the ‘symphony’ you long to compose? How and when will you begin? What might you do today?