Momento Mori

This year I am taking a different approach to developing my personal goals.

It is effortless to review last year’s goals, make a few adjustments, ponder some potential new goals, write them down and press onward.

The questions I am asking myself are:

·       What inspires me?

·       Do my goals line up with my purpose and what I want my legacy to be?

·       What am I postponing?

In our busy worlds of work, family, pandemic restrictions, and other chaos that fill our days, it is easy to forget that we only have a limited time on earth.

One of my teammates told me about a friend who suddenly passed from a heart attack just a few days ago.  He was a healthy 48-year-old man.

This story was an awakening for me.  Whatever my goals, the key is to free myself of distractions.

If I am focused and concentrating on my goals which tie back to my purpose, the last thing I do in this lifetime, whenever that day may be, will reflect the goodness I was working towards.

No matter what our goals are, schedules and habits are keys to achieving them.

I have a sheet of paper with 5 statements beside my espresso machine which I read each morning as a reminder of the importance of being present and living life to its fullest.

These “truths” come from Buddhism and are called the 5 things to remember every day (or 5 remembrances) as follows:

I can not avoid aging

I can not avoid illness

I can not avoid death

I will lose what I love and the things that I love

My life is the result of my own actions and choices

The Romans had a phrase called, "Momento Mori" meaning “Remember that you must die”.

How do you remember you are alive?  How do you meditate on your mortality?

I hope this inspires you to focus on your goals given their importance to your purpose and see with clarity all the potential distractions that lead us astray from being present.

Have a great weekend,

Karl

Let us prepare our minds as if we’d come to the very end of life. Let us postpone nothing. Let us balance life’s books each day. … The one who puts the finishing touches on their life each day is never short of time.  Seneca

Here is a test to find whether your mission on earth is finished. If you’re alive, it isn’t.  Illusions,  The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach