What are you going to do with this gift called life?

People come into our lives to teach us the lessons and give us the insight that we are unable to gain any other way. In life there are no do-overs, rewinds, or pauses. There are no take-backs, fast-forwards, or skips. All there is and all there will be is the present. The past is gone and the future has yet to be reached so why place our focus on what has been or what will be when the past cannot be changed and the future is dependent on our presence in the present. Being present in the present allows us to open our hearts to experience the magnificence of what life has to offer. It allows us to engage fully in new relationships and strengthen old ones. It allows us to share ourselves with those around us and learn, what I believe to be ones of life’s greatest lessons: to be more connected to who we are as individuals and learn how to fully self-express ourselves with the people we care about the most. After all, what is life without sharing it with the ones who are most important to us? What is life without the heartache of losing someone you care about? What is life without taking a risk at fully devoting yourself to the fullest expression of yourself and opening yourself up to sharing that experience with someone else?

I think all too many people have lost sight of what relationships are all about. Relationships are not about two incomplete people coming together to complete each other. I disagree with Jerry Maguire that “you complete me.” I think it is a cancer to a relationship to complete someone. My idea of a relationship is two whole and complete people coming together to create a whole-is-greater-than-the-sum-of-the-parts experience where instead of two people completing each other, rather the two people synergize to create a relationship whose combination is seemingly mathematically unfeasible. This synergy creates an explosion of emotion and passion where you can lose yourself in the eyes of the other person. Where it is almost as if time stands still and the world around just seems to slow down. Where your heart is racing yet simultaneously there is a calmness that overcomes you. Where you open yourself up to a vulnerable state where you allow someone to see your true self while you are able to see theirs.

All of us have been given this gift called life. It is up to you to decide what you are going to do with it. Are you going to open yourself up and allow yourself to experience the greatness of what lies ahead of you or because of fear, are you going close yourself off to the experiences of what lie in front of you? Are you going hold back from fear of hurt and anguish or are you going to plow ahead with a full-knowing that greatness is lingering at your fingertips just waiting for you to grab hold? Are you going to live your life for the consequences of tomorrow or are you going to live in the present and make every second count? "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." -Mark Twain