If I Had One Month to Live
Musings on the Brevity of Life
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I have been a spiritual seeker for decades. I have found books that inspired me, made me cry, made me angry. Books that have made me question the nature of reality and even myself.
One of the spiritual book gems I’ve read recently was a classic: “The Untethered Soul” by Michael A. Singer. Besides teaching you how to stop identifying with the monkey mind and play the role of the observer, the author gives us one of the most powerful lessons in one of the last few chapters of the book: a lesson on the brevity of life.
That lesson has touched my heart in a way I still cannot explain, and I’m excited to share it with you.
I don’t need to remind you here how brief life is, and that it can be over at any moment. We all know everything is impermanent and temporary. Just the fact you are breathing now it’s not a guarantee you’ll be breathing soon.
But how comfortable are you with making death your best teacher?
How comfortable are you with the fact you can take one breath in now and not have the chance to exhale at any moment?
That’s exactly what you read. That’s what Singer explores in this one chapter. By asking questions such as “what if you had one month or one week left to live,” he prompts us to dig deep and he sort of encourages you to make an experiment. Nothing can teach you more about life than the concept that death is always around the corner.
I’d like to propose that we all do this experiment. I’ve added my own questions and suggestions.
How would you live if you had one week left? Let’s suppose nobody knew about it and there was nothing you could do so you decided to keep it a secret. Let’s also suppose you’d still go to work (or school) because you need to get more money for your family before you leave this plane. This way it will stop the whole “I’d quit my job, never pay my bills, and just stay home with my loved ones.”
It’s just natural to want to quit everything and be surrounded by the beautiful and the dear to the heart.
But nope. I want you to stay with your current life, including the crap and the blessings. With all trials and tribulations. Let’s give you…
