Having a potentially deadly disease really puts life into perspective! What would you do if you knew you only had a short time left? I guarantee your list of priorities would change, perhaps even drastically! While I have always realized my mortality, I have become acutely aware that drama and head games have NO PLACE in my life! I don’t care WHO you are! I find myself saying to people as they ramble on about the drama with a friend or relative: “So what?” and “let it go”. It amazes me the crap that I wasted my time on in the past. When you put it in perspective of the bigger picture it suddenly seems trivial and silly. That’s not to say that there aren’t real legitimate relationship and other stressful problems we all need to deal with. What I am saying is we need to evaluate how we deal with them. Are we ‘keeping the peace” and never facing the problem head on? Are we in denial? Are we trying to “even the score”? These are all unhealthy for our soul and our bodies. Studies have proven this time and time again. I used to be a “peace keeper” never wanting to upset the other person. I learned that the issue(s) remain there, just below the surface, until they are dealt with. In the end there was inevitably a blow up. Like a pressure cooker, when I pushed things down over and over again, it became more difficult to control just how and when they would burst out!

What have you been putting off till later? Well, every day is ‘later’ and we need to evaluate our priorities. We all make time for who and what is important to us so when I hear someone say “I just don’t have time for that” I know it really means “That’s just not important to me”. I know now more than ever how important it is to be honest and true. Not just to everyone around you, but to yourself! Willy Wonka’s Chocolate factory movie (strange as it was) is a prime example. What kid ended up with the prize at the end? Not the spoiled kid; not the kid that stole and lied; not the kid who just helped himself to whatever he wanted. Nope. It was the kid who did as he was told and didn’t lie, steal or cheat. Yes, he slipped up once but owned up to it and was forgiven. It’s okay to say you don’t want to do something instead of making an excuse or just not showing up. We tell little white lies to someone thinking the truth might hurt them when in fact, they are hurt anyway and more so if they find out you lied! Yes the truth will sting sometimes, but when you respect and care about someone enough, the truth should be your focus. No one likes being lied to.

We learn as we live. Nothing is a better teacher to us then experience. Everyone I know has said at some point in their life: Boy if I could go back to ____ time with what I know now, things would be a LOT different! How true that statement is! Knowledge is the golden ticket folks! Having clarity and focus on what is important in life is the key to being happy. Happiness isn’t dependent on wealth or even health. It’s knowledge! Knowing you are going to die one day (as we all will) and making that the driving force of our interactions and reactions and undertakings, will lead us to live true to ourselves and others. We will live a more peaceful life and know true happiness regardless of the many storms we will endure.