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Life is a waiting room

It's so nice to have you here again. I find it stimulating to have you read me, and I thank you for doing so.

From the moment we are born, we live in a constant waiting room, always anticipating death. But in this waiting room there are many needs that need to be satisfied before we can dedicate time and effort to exploring our possibilities and developing our talents.

The “final test” of life is in developing our talents. But to do that, we first need to address our needs. Unfortunately, many people spend so much time addressing their needs that they have no time to look for opportunities that allow them to develop their talents.

If you look closely, you will see that many people work to satisfy their needs, but not to fulfill themselves. The problem with getting caught in this dynamic is that you “fail” in life. When your spirit senses that you are “failing,” it sends you crises, pain, or mysterious events to make you react.

For these people, work is not a process of personal fulfillment; it is simply a means to pay the bills: debts, television, the car, the house, furniture, or even the video game console. To develop your spirituality, you first need to meet your basic needs. If you are hungry, you will hardly be able to philosophize or develop higher talents.

The reality is that we are leaving this temporal life, and death is unavoidable. The question is not Yeah will we die, but what are we doing and how are we living in the meantime.

It is important to remember that, in addition to working, there are other verbs that we should conjugate in life: we can dance, swim, run, ski, love, admire and make amends. The quality of life is much more important than the number of years; what matters is what you have contributed, the gifts you have left to humanity and how you have impacted the people around you.

What contributions have you made to science, culture, art, society, politics, economics or sport?

I believe that we are born once and die once. I respect those who believe in reincarnation, like the existentialist philosopher Nietzsche, who speaks of eternal return, or Brian Weiss, who explores the idea of other lives in other worlds. But in general, we are educated to produce and consume, not to fulfil ourselves, to meet our needs and develop our talents, taking advantage of opportunities.

We live in a culture that makes us mistakenly believe that there are no limits and that we are all powerful. This belief creates exaggerated expectations and, consequently, a lot of pain when we realize that reality is different. A well-known sports brand says: “impossible is nothing,” but in reality there are impossibles.

You cannot go back to being a baby, a child, a teenager, a young person, you cannot even go back a single day in your life. These are limits that we must respect in order to avoid suffering. The death of loved ones, the passage of time, day and night, the weather, the scarcity of water… These are all real limits. Awareness of these limits makes us free and teaches us to be respectful.

The day will come when you may no longer be able to get up, run, eat or talk. That's why, carpe diem, enjoy life while you have it, because one day it will go away. We will deteriorate even if we take care of ourselves.

Seneca said that if you put off the essentials, tomorrow will be disastrous. When you say “I’ll apologize tomorrow,” “I’ll go for a run tomorrow,” “I’ll learn English later,” you are making the worst decision for someone who wants a spectacular present and a future that is better than their past.

Every grief is different. When you lose a loved one, no one suffers the same way. Not even your siblings feel the same way about losing a parent, let alone your friends. Your loved ones try to help you mentally through your pain, but what you really need is company in your suffering, something that only the heart can provide if it is open and willing.

Unfortunately, most people listen to what their “lying mind” tells them. That’s why you hear phrases like, “It’s not that bad,” “Enough is enough.” These people are trying to take away your pain because they can’t understand your experience. From the heart, you would tell someone, “I’m here to be with you, to care for you, to understand you, to encourage you.” These verbs are not conjugated by the lying mind.

In modern times, there is little tolerance, and the central problem is Manichaeism: “I am all good, you are all bad,” “I am right, you are wrong.” This is a purely mental approach, based on parallel lines that never touch. Thus, you can be next to a person and feel like two strangers in the same room, even in the same bed, and yet call each other spouses.

Thank you for reading me.