This past week, an old friend died suddenly. During these last few years of covid, it became a weird ironic joke when we would say this person just died a regular death, not covid death. A regular death. Like cancer. Dark humor to say that a person just died of a regular heart attack or a regular cancer attack. But here we are.
Death is a regular part of every life. Two factors are significant in between here and there. One is how we take care of ourselves on our journey through life and the second important factor is to be conscious and aware of what we are doing with our life.
My friend Mike and I had drifted apart over the years simply the way that we all do. We went to high school together, then after, we went in different directions, and we lost touch because our work took us to different parts of the world, and we were busy with our careers, relationships, and the people in our lives where we were living and working.
Mike lived a good life and did a lot of good for people, contributing to charities in his community. Lots of testimonials were from people he mentored and people he helped. I always thought of him as a good friend even though we had not seen each other in decades.
I regret not having kept in touch with him more over the years, but my attention kept moving forward focusing on my career changes and cross country moves. Although I regret losing track of this friend, I was never one for high school reunions. My life after high school was a whole new adventure, a whole new world.
Once I got out of school and moved around the country for work, I got busy exploring this big new world, and my life got busy and took paths I never anticipated when I was younger. I did not grow up thinking that I would live in Colorado or that I would be doing this work, but here I am, and happy to be here.
A lesson from this crossing can be to give some thought to those we have lost contact with and think about whether we want to reconnect. We all have some other people in our lives that we are happy to leave in the past. Mike and I never had any falling out, our lives just followed very different paths. Obviously, our time together was a positive influence in my life.
Not saying that I would have changed my life path, just meditating on the difference between those we deliberately left behind and those who just fell off our radar. Even though we would still have been living in different parts of the country, pursuing different paths, we could have kept in touch more.
This is not simply a function of growing older. Those of you who had someone die unexpectedly at a young age have some of these same thoughts. I had friends who died back at high school age too, and our perspective changes with experience.
Drawing lessons from death experiences are powerful insights for people of any age. I see it in those of you who have come to me for help with your grieving.
Death gives us lessons that lead to greater enjoyment of life. Yes, we grieve the loss of the one who is gone, but each death reminds us to make the best use of our time. Each lesson opens our heart more and our heart is our core, our center chakra, the center of our energy.
Death is a powerful advisor in this regard. Death informs our future choices. Death makes us think about how we are spending our time.
I always love hearing from you, so if you feel like sending me a note, calling or coming to see me, please do!
Have a wonderful day!
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