The next 48

It occurred to me this morning to wonder what I would do if I knew for sure I had 48 hours to live.  What would I do differently?  In my own case, not a whole lot.  I am contemplative on a daily basis, and have been for a long time.  I would worry about long term things less, because I will be gone.  My work will be done by someone else, or not done at all.

I think most of us have done some version of this exercise.  Tim McGraw, for example, has his song “Live like you’re dying”.  As he points out, most of us have been thinking about something, thought it would be cool to do something, but just never made the time. None of us are getting any younger, are we?  It doesn’t work like that.  Time keeps passing, and eventually runs out, whether you are doing anything with it or not.

But it occurs to me to add a wrinkle to this well-worn but still highly important theme.  What if you couldn’t change ANYTHING about the next 48 hours?  What if you had to go to work?  What if you couldn’t tell anyone?  What if you still had to do the work (this is a thought exercise, yes I know you would not do the work)?  What if your Tuesday March 20th, and Wednesday March 21st were going to be EXACTLY the same, except that you got to think about them differently?  And that you died in the night of Wednesday the 21st in your sleep?

How would your approach change?   How would you deal with people?  Would you be kinder?  Would you look at them an extra moment, appreciating them, or feeling compassion for them?  How would you deal with your work?  Could you find joy in it, even if you are crunching numbers all day, or digging ditches, or otherwise doing something you would prefer not to do?

All of us have this choice every day.  You don’t have to go skydiving to live. You don’t have to ride the bull, or take that long delayed vacation. Inhabit your day.  Be there.  Don’t be somewhere else.  Value what you see and do, and appreciate who you are, and the unique contributions you make to this world.

And I’m tempted to say “don’t aim high”.  Aim low.  Aim to be present, not to fancy daydreams, not to fantastic visions, but to the mundane, the ordinary, the simple, the plain, the humble.

This is what I am feeling this morning.  I am growing. I can feel it.