A Sense of Urgency

Have you ever been chased by a dog? It is a nightmare I have lived many times. If you look at the scene closely, there is an extremely important lesson to be learnt. You see, if the dog thinks you have something that might hold some value to it, he will follow you, if you run it chases you. If the need arises it even bites you (A total nightmare!). We should look at life the way a dog looks at the food in your hand. It does not wait for food to arrive, if it sees that you are not going to give it to it, be ready to run!

Many of us are waiting for the right time, maybe to take a vacation we always wanted to take, to change jobs, learning the guitar or being sincere with our hobbies. In my experience most of the time the only right time is now.

When we post-pone things the moment is often lost. Sometimes because we lose the flow or the ease, other times the opportunity does not knock again and sometimes we die. We are most conscious of losing the opportunity forever, but still let it slip. The thing we are least aware of is death, though we say we are aware of it, it is shoved back into our minds because we have trouble grasping and accepting it. We know that we might die the next moment, but we never live that way. Take a moment and think about the things you are delaying saying to a loved one, that loved one maybe you yourself, leaving it for tomorrow or next week.

The problem is we know that we have limited time, but we lack awareness of it. We need to create a sense of urgency. Embrace our impermanence and the impermanence of opportunity.

Here are a couple of things which have helped with it.

Having countdown timers. Set a timer for lets say three years. Yeah you might have the opportunity after three years or it may vanish before it, but it gives you a sense of urgency which is easy to accept. Timers that are too short often fail because we find it hard to accept that we might die or lose the opportunity in the next week or month. When they are too long like 50 years, they don’t hit us with the awareness that hard. I personally have a timer running for five years.

Next is the Ta-Da list. The Ta-Da list is a to-do list for your life. It consists of all the things you want to do before you die. Sit alone one evening to write it down, it needs to be on paper to serve as a reminder and because the goals become more specific. Some things might seem impossible or stupid, but put them down anyway. You never know when a miracle might happen. This list can be as short or long as you want, its your life, you get to decide what you want to do. Working towards completing your Ta-Da list gives you a reason to wake up every day and suddenly every day seems to be full of excitement.

Grab the reigns of your life, Now!

P.S – What is the thing that seems absolutely impossible on your Ta-Da list?