We must accept life as it is – with the good and the bad.  Think about it – just embracing life itself means you are also embracing the fact that you will some day lose your life. Life is I guess about an even split between great pleasure and gut-wrenching loss. You win some and you lose some. I know, I know – you did not choose to be subject to this dichotomy – you were thrust into this life. “Get busy living or get busy dying.” Maybe you are doing both.

I’ve lived enough life and suffered enough losses at this point to know the downside is inevitable. I am no longer naive enough to believe I will be able to beat the system and win more than I lose. The scales will balance. I came into this life with nothing and everything I have accumulated since will be stripped from me. The same is true for you, whether you choose to believe it or not.

This understanding can either paralyze us in fear and rob us of all motivation, or maybe it can help us be more alive than ever. Imagine if we were able to accept life as it is: with all its ecstasy and heartbreak. At the same time you pursue your great desires, you accept some day they will be taken away from you. Yes, those you love, even your very life will be whisked away from you at some point. Sometimes this truth is more evident to us than other times. Yet everyday when we open our eyes, we accept our fate: we may live or die. Your life changes once it comes home to you that it could be taken from you at any moment. It is scary, yet exhilarating – neither life nor death are up to you. You were handed this life. It may be demanded of you this very night. How can this change the way we live?