The human lifespan is a short one

1. We usually don’t realize how short our life span is (even if we live to be 100) until the very end. Right up until that time, we’ve got oodles of time to kill on idle gossip, television, work, computer, eating, feeling pain, drinking, sleeping, love, friends or fantasizing about what we really want to do.

2. What we really want to do (astronaut, dancer, musician, writer, athlete, meditation teacher, yoga instructor, etc.), we probably can’t do and get paid enough to live on, so we do something else(like accounting, dishwashing, nursing , plumbing, teaching or cleaning) because we may have to help support a family and we may not be a big fan of destitution.

3. If we do get to do what we really want to, we realize we want something else instead.

4. Our bodies are pieces of junk. We can polish them, purify them, exercise them, stretch them, clean them, decorate them, beautify them…but in the end, they still decay and die.

5. There’s a lot of stuff that we pretend to accept that we actually find quite troubling.

6. None of the other humans we’re incarnating with seem to know what’s going on, but some of them are great at pretending they do (or maybe they’re just smart).

7. Part of us still plans for some sort of ‘big payday,’ despite the overwhelming evidence that in the end, it probably won’t happen. But let’s be positive, please!

8. There’s another part of us that still continues to believe that, if we just get that one magical thing—like the right lover, the right job, money, decent sleep, fame, energy, enlightenment, or exotic travel—everything will be great! But the one thing we really need, we probably already have and it’s subtle. It’s ever-present, it’s Buddha nature, it’s Christ-mind, it’s Atman…it’s all that shit. Who that Buddha running through the mall? Help! I need a rest room fast!

9. We can rarely will away the things that are driving us crazy. Whether it’s that annoying person (you know the one), those repetitive negative thoughts, the body breakdown, a bad job, a difficult marriage, global warming, or buried plutonium, it’s not right and shouldn’t be there. Go away! Is it still there? Oh, Lord…

10. Our changing views of our life situations. We get a great compliment, some extra money, or a some hot action and all of a sudden we have renewed patience for the homeless drug addict on the corner who is unfairly hassling us. But if things aren’t going well? He’s an asshole!

11. We’ve got the urge to merge and we’re quite sure it should be easier.

12. We either act like we care or we don’t care that no one really understands us.

13. We don’t know whether or not we should be happy, sad, dismissive or angry, when confronted with a list like this.

14. When we forget about ourselves, our troubles disappear.

15. We can’t help ourselves: we need to eat, poop, sleep and breathe, everything else is a bonus.

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Assistant Editor: Christina Lorenzo/Editor: Bryonie WIse

Photo: Flickr/bmitchellw