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What would you do if you had 1 month left?
jll
Veteran
Buddha asked us to think about death daily.
If your doctor told you that you had 1 mth left,
how would you live your life?
If your doctor told you that you had 1 mth left,
how would you live your life?
0
Comments
then start to let go of everything. first physically by giving away everything i own. then mentally by forgiving myself and others. letting go of attachments to others and myself.
we come naked and leave naked.
I would hang out on the forum awhile. Then go outside and have a smoke. Then play video games. Then order a pizza because my mom is out with her friends and I hate to cook just for myself (or maybe I will just make some soup?)
In the evening I do some walking meditation, some sitting meditation, and some reading. Dedicate the merits to all beings. Take refuge in the buddha.
not sure? haha
but I wouldnt wanna be naked in the coffin.
(i havent been working out, so I'm a bit out
of shape. if you know what i mean).
it would be a different story if i had a hot body.
Fortunately, the preliminary diagnosis was incorrect. Turns out that I have no serious heart problem at all. But it was all a good lesson.
Taken in the spirit of the question though, which I think presumes that we would definitely pass away in a month, I suppose I would quit my job, and go on a nice backpacking trip in the White Mountains here in AZ. I would want to spend some time communing with nature again - something I just haven't had much chance to do much lately here in "Bablyon."
Other than that, I would probably try to spend a little time with my family doing fun stuff. And indeed, I would like to take my immediate family on the backpacking trip so we could all spend some nice time together in the peace and beauty of nature.
Of course, I try to live my life in such a manner that any day could be my last, and I have no regrets. But I would be dishonest if I said I wouldn't do some special things if I KNEW for certain that I only had a short time to go.
Gee, having written this makes me think I REALLY need to get out to the woods again - soon! Like someone else said - why wait?
Many Blessings : )
Kwan Kev
Quit my job.
Sell off just about everything and take that money and also my money in savings and transfer those funds to my GF (who lives in New Zealand - I won't be moving there for another couple years). It wouldn't be much, but its money I've been saving for us as a nest egg.
My large accumulation of Buddhist literature I would donate to a small sangha that could put those books to good use.
I'd have to give away my sweet cat, Issa to a good home.
I would spend one whole day with my GF online just reading poetry to her (Rilke, Neruda, Octavio Paz, Mary Oliver, haiku). Then I would say my goodbyes to her, and family and friends.
Disconnect the internet.
Zazen. Play the shakuhachi. Write haiku.
My only "special request" is that I listen to Bach's cello suites one final time (don't ask me WHICH recording-- there are at least three I'd have a hard time choosing), and Beethoven's sixth symphony, which I've loved since I was a child.
Still an awful lot of romantic notions in there... LOL
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19960929/REVIEWS08/401010329/1023
The Buddha advised his monks to train as if each in-breath and each out-breath could be their last. Will we live a whole month, regardless of whether the doctor diagnoses us with a terminal condition? Who knows!
Metta,
Guy
practice!
-I would invest in a new suit of Kendo armor. Then travel around SoCal and I would fight at all the best dojos, and be sure I exchanged swords, and words with the head of each dojo.
-I would compliment all the body builders that I always admired at my gym and tell them how good they look, and encourage them to keep at it, since I would no longer be able to.
-Catch up with all my friends, and family current and old. And tie up any loose ends.
-Write a will, share some final thoughts, some esoteric secrets I learned, and other things that could serve as a guide for my brother, or any others who have dealt with much adversity.
Probably a few other things too, but that's all that comes to mind for the moment.
I knew a young man who died at 21 a mere 17 weeks after the doctor gave him his stage four cancer diagnosis. He tried to live because the doctor told him - I told him - his mother told him - his friends told him - "Choose life, you are young, your will tolerate the treatment - you will beat this cancer." He tried to live. He died. I cried. He was my son.
So I would cry - try to live - and die.
She became very ill, and was confined to hospital.
I visited her one day, and she was positively beaming.
So I told her she looked happy.
To paraphrase, she replied:
"I am, I'm very happy. I've dealt with the sale of my house, I've got rid of all the furniture, I've tied up all my amenity bills and outstanding accounts, I've advised my bank of transfer of authority, I've cancelled the milk, I've re-homed my pet - I have done everything I need to do, and now, all I have left is to talk to all my good friends, and say goodbye! Everything's sorted, and I have nothing to worry about. If I die now, I die in the safe and secure knowledge that I have left nothing to chance.
We're all dying now. Right now.
Every breath, is one breath less, every day is one day less.
No guarantees.
Tell me.... how much do you have, "left to chance"....?
~ Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
"What would you do if you had 1 month left?" is followed by "Say fuck it!"
The first thing I would do is not come online again. I think it is one of the most meaningless things I do actually.
_/\_
Beautiful
Your story made me cry at my desk. This world is so full of suffering. Thank you for sharing that.
Sincerely.