THE FINANCIAL PHILOSOPHER

The Goal is Not the Driving Force

"People are accustomed to consider the goal (purposes, vocations, etc.) as the driving force, in keeping with a very ancient error; but it is merely the directing force -- one has mistaken the helmsman for the steam.  And not even always the helmsman, the directing force." ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

Goals are created to inspire; inspiration is sought for the sake of inspiration; but nothing is accomplished.  This is regressive, outside-in behavior; it is useless energy--entropy. 

The saying, life is about the journey--not the destination, is true but many people distort the wisdom and choose only a journey.  Or, an equal and opposite mistake, they choose only a pleasing destination and use it as inspiration to continue an unsatisfying journey.  In both cases, the inspiration becomes the motivation, the purpose to plan, the goal.

This brings to mind the so-called self-motivation movement.  How can anything self-motivating come from outside sources?  Think of this quote from George Carlin: "I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, 'Where's the self-help section?' She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose."  This is simultaneously funny, sad, true and too common.  People spend their time looking at maps, dreaming about destinations, drifting aimlessly or failing to ever leave the shore.

"It is indeed beautiful to see a person put out to sea with the fair wind of hope; one may utilize the chance to let oneself be towed along; but one ought never have it on board one's craft, least of all as pilot, for it is an untrustworthy ship-master." ~ Soren Kierkegaard

The solution to this aimless activity is simply to observe it for yourself--within yourself.  Ask yourself reflective and introspective questions:

• Why do I live?  What is my purpose?
• Is what I do aligned with who I am?
• Am I the greatest influence on my journey or is it just hope and inspiration?
• Are financial goals created for financial purposes or for life purposes?

There is a redeeming quality in aimlessness; discovery may not occur if the course is too rigid; and drifting with your hands off the wheel can be both rewarding and necessary at times.  However, even if hope and inspiration can push your craft along, the purpose of the journey is not to fill the sails with wind. 

You are the driver--the helmsman of your journey, your life.  You choose the craft, the destination and the journey.  However, none are more important that being your own driving force.

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Related:

Life Planning Part I: Are You a Tool?

Life Planning Part II: The Search for Meaning

Life Planning Part III: Creating the Plan

Why 'Retiring' At 80 is Good

"It is no measure of health to be well-adjusted to a profoundly sick society." ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti

I recently read a MarketWatch article, Retirees are confident, but workers can't retire, which essentially states that many of today's retirees will financially survive the Great Recession but "fears were palpable" among today's workers and non-retired people that they won't be able to retire until the age of 80.

This article is a case in point that the conventional idea of retirement is exactly the opposite of a healthy perspective.  At a minimum the sentiment of the article, assuming it matches that of today's workers and non-retired people, is a reminder that the conventional idea of retirement essentially means "not working anymore."  It also underscores the unhealthy conventional thinking that working in a job or succession of jobs you don't like (or even hate) for most of your life is a fact of life to be accepted, is a tragedy.

This thinking further supports the notion that retirement is considered a kind of escape from reality and may only be enabled by financial means:  If you save well, you can get out of the rat race and live out your golden years relaxing, travelling and playing golf; however if you don't save well or you have been victimized by a terribly timed recession, you'll have to sacrifice another 10 or 15 years of your life to reach the Holy Grail of personal finance--retirement.

"Health is the greatest possession. Contentment is the greatest treasure. Confidence is the greatest friend. Non-being is the greatest joy." ~ Lau-tzu

I can certainly see how "fears are palpable" for workers who are generally unhappy with their existence and the ultimate and hopefully permanent escape from this existence will occur at age 80--a long, long time from their current age.  However, if younger people today--those significantly under the conventional retirement age of 65--want to find the means of early retirement they will consider career planning as an important aspect of retirement planning.  In different words, find work that you enjoy and you won't want to "retire" by conventional means; you'll want to live a long life and keep doing things that are meaningful and rewarding.

This way, if retirement means "not working anymore," one would not want to hasten the conventional retirement age--health would become the highest priority (above money) and "working" until age 80 would be a blessing.

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"Rat Race" Image by Polyp

Related Posts:

The Non-Financial Cost of Retirement

Man's (Career) Search for Meaning

Speak to the Past, Listen to the Future

"Have you ever looked back and thought, 'If I had done this or that five years ago I'd be better off now?' But the opportunity was there; why didn't you see it? Are you sure that you are not closing your eyes at this moment to one which you will see later in retrospect?" ~ Dorothea Brande

The saying, "Hindsight is 20/20," with regard to personal reflection, is a thinly veiled excuse to justify laziness.  It's most often used in the place of this:  "I made a mistake and I can't do anything about it now."  Why not?  The value of the past is often dismissed because it is already behind us; but recognizing missed opportunities, for example, is a valuable lesson in humility.  Hindsight may be 20/20 but foresight need not be blind.

Follow me closely here:  Do you ever speak to your past self?  If not, why don't you?  If you could speak to your past self, what would you say?  "Go ahead and make plans but you probably won't succeed at any of them."  This is what you say or think, isn't it?

"When the mind is thinking it is talking to itself." ~ Plato

Speaking to your past self can provide the foundation of a dialogue with your future self.  For example, your present self might say to your past self, "Don't make rigid plans for your future because you will not be able to predict or control what happens.  Therefore, be mindful of unforeseen opportunities and be ready to recognize them and turn them into greater realities than your original plans could have achieved."  This same advice is essentially what your future self would say to you now.  In other words, from the perspective of your past self, your present self is the future self.  Therefore listen to your own advice!  Here are some sage words my "future self" is telling me now:

• Extreme hardships are easier to overcome than you are currently imagining.  As Winston Churchill once said, "If you're going through hell, keep going."  
• Stop killing the present by wishing for the future.
• Money, material wealth and social status are wonderful things but they are only things.  Health is your greatest asset.
• Don't be afraid to take more risk.
• Listen to the inner voice; it's usually correct.
• The smallest of pleasures are the greatest of joys.
• Surprise yourself every day; push beyond your comfort zones (mental, spiritual, emotional and physical).
• Listen intently to people when they speak.  Catch yourself wanting to inject your feedback, opinion or solution and wait until they have finished speaking.
• Don't be the person that says, "Here I am!" when entering a room; be the person that says, "There you are!"
• Money isn't nearly as important as the world projects it to be.

What is your future self saying to you now?  Are you listening?  Are you following the advice?

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Related:

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The Knowing-Doing Gap

How to Break Your Own Will to Fail

5 Lessons I've Learned in 5 Years

"I do nothing but going about persuading you all, old and young alike, not to take thought for your persons or your properties, but and chiefly to care about the greatest improvement of the soul. I tell you that virtue is not given by money, but that from virtue comes money and every other good of of man, public as well as private. This is my teaching, and if this is the doctrine that corrupts the youth, I am a mischievous person." ~ Socrates

Five years ago today I stopped "workin' for the man" and started my own investment advisory firm.  I've learned many lessons along the way, none of which I would have predicted.  Here are five of those lessons:

1. Plans Are Useless, Planning is Essential: This lesson, with words borrowed from Dwight Eisenhower, speaks to the nature of life itself.  Life is constantly evolving; unforeseen obstacles and opportunities will continue to arise. Plans may account for the unforeseen but it is impossible to predict the timing or intensity of unforeseen events.  I'm a CFP and an MBA.  You'd think I'm as good of a planner one might find (I even received an 'A' in my graduate entrepreneurial business course for my business plan).  My business plan did not foresee The Great Recession of 2008 and it did not foresee my creation of The Financial Philosopher.  However, with that said, the planning process, whether it is financial or otherwise, often brings to the surface information, thoughts or feelings that may not have been recognized if not for engaging in planning.  Create the plan for the purpose of engaging in the planning process but file away the plan and form a new one within a year to 18 months.

2. Wisdom is More Powerful Than Knowledge: As Sir Francis Bacon profoundly stated, "Knowledge is power."  However the only knowledge that is truly empowering is self-knowledge.  Certainly, knowledge of external things (i.e. money, material and social matters) can aid in acquiring external wealth but the lack of self-knowledge has the potential to destroy the self along with the acquired external wealth.  For example, throughout the credit crisis and ensuing recession, I've witnessed clever but criminal behavior (i.e. Bernie Madoff) destroy financial wealth and the lives of many people--all because of knowledge in the absence of wisdom.  In my personal and professional life, I've minimized the pursuit of external knowledge (I stopped my subscription to all magazines and newspapers and I no longer use financial planning software) and noticed my judgment has become much more clear, confident and prudent.

3. True Wealth is Not Measured by Financial Means:   From the beginning of this five-year journey, I set out to follow the wise advice of my then 4-year old son: "I'd rather have my Daddy than money."  Think about all you wish to accomplish with money:  Do any of these accomplishments align with your highest priorities?  You may find that your financial pursuits, no matter how good your intentions, are eroding at your most valuable possessions.  What is more important than your health, personal relationships and connection with the present moment?

4. Happiness is Found Easier When Not Looking For It:  Happiness, by its own definition, is not something that can be created or manufactured--it "happens."  By virtue of finding contentment with all that you have now enables happiness to happen because you have effectively reduced the perceived benchmark for happiness to the present moment.  In different words, if you already have enough, all that you acquire from this moment is more, which brings higher levels of satisfaction.  It is not wrong to desire more; this is your nature.  However, it is unhealthy to desire more in absence of contentment.

5. The Fear of Death Does Not Come From a Love of Life: The combination of reading philosophy and losing people and animals I love (along with passing my own 40-year mark) has provoked a profound reflection on life. If one is to begin with the end in mind, the true end is not some destination reached in a financial plan, a career path or some other end. All ends in life are subordinate to the end of life; the plans we make—financial, career, and personal relationships—may be given meaning and purpose by holding close the thought of mortality: Death gives meaning to life—your life—and it enables the perspective that will allow you to form your own philosophy—your life philosophy—the meaning and purpose of your life and all that you do. To embrace death is to embrace life and all that it contains.

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Related: Thanks For Reading The Financial Philosopher

Ode to a Friend: On Life, Death & Perspective

"What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly." ~ Richard Bach

My mother-in-law, my friend, died two days ago.  Suitable words are not coming to me at the moment but as I begin writing and thinking of what I might say today, it is striking me now that she, among many greater things, was one of the biggest fans of this blog. 

I recall a past blog post, Awakening to Your Dying, that elicited a profound response from her.  The final two sentences of the post were these questions: "Are you living or are you dying? Are you living the day or merely surviving it?"

In her response to me, she simply wrote, "I'm livin' it honey!"

I can't help but smile as I imagine her saying that in her wonderfully unique accent, which was equal parts Maryland and South Carolina. 

Her final year was often physically difficult for her and not always filled with optimism but she still managed to find the will and means to fulfill her most meaningful and rewarding activities, such as shopping at thrift stores to buy trinkets for her grandkids or to care for her ailing cats.

In reflection of her life, my thoughts remain flooded with memories of her, combined with the love, support and concern I am feeling for my wife, kids and extended family.  Therefore, I thought it appropriate to share some quotes that I imagine she might say at this moment, if she were able to send us a few lessons she learned before, during and after her passing:

To live in this world you must be able to do three things:
to love what is mortal;
to hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends on it;
and, when the time comes to let it go, to let it go.
~ Mary Oliver, 'In Blackwater Woods'

To die is poignantly bitter, but the idea of having to die without having lived is unbearable. ~ Erich Fromm

Stop acting as if you have 1,000 years to live. ~ Marcus Aurelius

Sometimes even to live is an act of courage. ~ Seneca

Fear is static that prevents me from hearing myself. ~ Samuel Butler

My life has been full of terrible misfortunes -- most of which have never happened. ~ Michel de Montaigne

People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet partaken in anxiety. ~ Aesop 

The family.  We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life   sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another's desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together. ~ Erma Bombeck

I have nothing more to add, except to simply say, "Peace, love and thanks always..."

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Sadly, my cat Sunny passed away just a few hours after I wrote this post.  Rest in peace, little one...

We who choose to surround ourselves with lives even more temporary than our own, live within a fragile circle, easily and often breached.  Unable to accept its awful gaps, we still would live no other way. ~ Irving Townsend

Balancing 'Life' and 'Planning'

"Don’t seek happiness. If you seek it, you won’t find it, because seeking is the antithesis of happiness." ~ Ekhart Tolle, A New Earth

Last week's post demonstrated how life planning is a contradiction of terms:  Life is now, planning is future.  Adding more challenges, life is not something that can be accurately predicted.  Did you know where you would be or know what your perspective of life would be today ten years ago?  Humans are great at thinking of the future but accurately predicting it or creating it is not one of our greatest attributes. 

As the great pre-Socratic philosopher Heraclitus famously said, "You cannot step into the same river twice."  Extending upon this metaphor, you cannot predict what the river will look like or where you'll step five, ten or twenty years from now.

"Although imagining happy futures may make us feel happy, it can also have some troubling consequences. Researchers have discovered that when people find it easy to imagine an event, they overestimate the likelihood that it will occur." ~ Daniel Gilbert, Stumbling on Happiness

If planning takes us away from life now, and humans are terrible at predicting the future, does this suggest we just float through life like a leaf in the wind?  As the old saying goes, ignorance is bliss.  Unless you were able to remove the frontal lobe of your brain (i.e. a frontal lobotamy) there is no stopping your anxiety about the unknown or your desire to predict and control future events.  Some people may find it easy to be the leaf in the wind but most people cannot.  To reconcile the futility of planning and the innate behavior to think about and plan for the future, there is a balance to be found.

"Plans are worthless.  Planning is essential." ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower

I believe any type of planning can be good if it is a reflective exercise that enables an individual to identify and direct their energy to the highest priorities in life now.  More importantly, this reflection can end with a return back to life--back to the present moment.  This suggests a healthy form of life planning--the balance of life and planning--the kind of planning that always returns you back to where you are now--where life exists.

To add to the semantics study, the word planning is a dynamic verb, which implies that it is an ongoing process.  Once the plan is created, it is a static (motionless) piece of history--almost worthless for a life that evolves.  However, the process of planning can uncover and clarify your current direction and remove the human anxiety over the unknown; the plan continues to evolve along with your life and you've satisfied your desire for control.

"What is important in life is life, and not the result of life." ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

In summary, to balance life and planning, the goal of planning must not be the creation of a plan; the goal is the ongoing, reflective process of planning.  To use a metaphor, you look forward to view a mirror; however the image reflects back to you.  Life is the journey, not the destination.

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Related:

Balancing Responsibility and Adventure

Life Planning Part I: Are You a Tool?

Life Planning Part II: The Search for Meaning

Life Planning Part III: Creating the Plan

Life Planning: A Contradiction of Terms

"Always we hope
Someone else has the answer.
Some other place will be better,
Some other time it will turn out.
This is it. No one else has the answer,
No other place will be better
And it has already turned out."
~ Lau Tzu

Planning and thinking of the future is a part of being human, assuming the prefrontal cortex of your brain is working properly.  We can't help but imagine ourselves in some other place and time, beyond the present moment, improved and happier than we are now.  And so we apply our energy today toward the acquisition of power to make a better tomorrow.  We think this power is given by money--the tool that enables the future happiness.

"Whatever has being does not become; whatever becomes does not have being." ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

Philosophers call this obsession with the future Becoming.  Most of us are always trying to become someone or something else and on our way to somewhere else.  In fact, most of the products and services in the western world are formed around the idea of escaping from the present moment.  And because money is something that is perceived to buy what we have imagined (or what some media message has inspired us to imagine), we spend the largest portion of our energy and our lives seeking money. 

We don't want to just make money, we want to make more money; we want to make our money make more money.  And thus we are always Becoming and never Being--we are never present to ourselves--we are never in the present moment, where life exists.

'Life' and 'Planning' as Opposites

In my profession of financial planning, there is a rising movement toward the idea of life planning.  Instead of blindly making goals to acquire a certain amount of money for purposes of financial security, life planning asks its participants to imagine the life that they want and allow money to help them acquire this life.  In essence, life planning makes life the goal and money the tool; whereas traditional financial planning is both the goal and the tool.

In other words, life planning does partially succeed at making life a higher priority than money but it potentially fails at engaging the participant directly with life, which is happening now: The future aspect of the 'planning' negates the 'life' aspect.

"As long as you are unaware of Being, you will seek meaning only within the dimension of doing and of future, that is to say, the dimension of time. And what ever meaning or fulfillment you find will dissolve or turn out to have been a deception." ~ Eckhart Tolle

Perhaps I am being too literal or getting too far into semantics but life can only exist in the present moment; planning is for purposes of future time.  The term life planning, therefore, is like saying present future or today tomorrow. The words are opposites.  This returns us to the ideas of Being and Becoming: You cannot be here and somewhere else at the same time--if you are always becoming, you are never being.  If you are not engaged with the present moment, you are absent from yourself--absent from life.  Life planning, paradoxically, can be life crippling.

Next week's post will be a "part 2" to this one and will provide guidance on how to move beyond the contradiction of life planning and find a balance between 'life' and 'planning'...

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Related:

10 Potentially Perilous Paradoxes: On Investing, Planning & Life

The Experience-Stretching Hypothesis

My Purpose is to Help You Help Yourself

"To be a light to oneself is not to follow the light of another, however reasonable, logical, historical, and however convincing." ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti

I recently received a message from a reader who connected with me on my facebook page.  In this message, he asked a few questions, which centered around the same idea:  He was interested in my helping with "personal coaching, focusing on healthy life goals" and in reading more of my "writings on life, meaning and wealth in the context of age."

I am flattered by this reader's interest in my guidance and in my writing but I believe the greatest value of someone in my position is to help others help themselves.  To paraphrase a psychologist friend of mine, "My goal is to counsel myself out of a job," which is to say that, if someone needs my guidance, I offer it in such a way that this person will eventually not need me. 

This is somewhat parallel to my philosophy as a parent to two young children: I always want to be a presence in their (and my readers') lives to some degree, but this presence evolves from direct nurturing to a periodic source of reflective and introspective thought so that they (you) may lead an independent and authentic life.

I want readers to continue reading this blog but hopefully the words and themes help you help yourselves.

"Ever more people today have the means to live, but no meaning to live for." ~ Viktor Frankl

To be authentic and to be present unto oneself (and to find financial success) one must form their own philosophy.  From this philosophy, all plans, including financial, will emerge.  Consider this passage from one of my forthcoming book projects:

This book does not intentionally teach philosophy, per se, especially not on an academic or scholarly level, but rather leads the reader to a unique philosophy of life – a philosophy from which life (and prudent financial) decisions can be made. Put simply, the pursuit of meaning and the definition of your purpose and the subsequent formation of your philosophy enables the creation of your life plan. From this life plan, your actions (financial and otherwise) will emanate:

Your Purpose ---> Life Philosophy ---> Life Plans ---> Actions

Like life, your philosophy and plans are constantly evolving; and the study and practice of philosophy, especially existential philosophy, creates a higher level of awareness of this evolution and actually helps guide, form, and enable its most ideal course—the path to a meaningful existence—something that money, material wealth, and social status can not buy, but can become aids in its pursuit. In other words, The Financial Philosopher is not a term describing your humble author and it is not only the name of a book; the financial philosopher is a process and a progression; and it is you.

In summary, the answers to the timeless, life questions--"Who Am I?" and "What is my purpose?" and "What is the purpose of my money?"--are found by ongoing reflection and introspection; the answers to the questions of life are in the questions themselves and this is where philosophy (and this blog) accomplishes its purpose.  By my asking questions, you are thus led to ask your own questions and to discover your own answers.

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Related:

Stop Looking for a List of Things to Do

The De-Construction of Social Conventions & The Unlearning Process

Who Am I? Part I: Emotional Intelligence

Climbing the Corporate Ladder... For What?

"Whatever has being does not become; whatever becomes does not have being." ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

Are you climbing the proverbial corporate ladder of success?  Where does this ladder lead?  Do you have goals?  Of course you do; you are human. 

But is it healthy to have goals?  A philosopher might answer by saying, "Goals matter less than the steps taken toward them; if you are always on your way to something else, you may never be where you are now; and thus you are always Becoming and never Being."

The philosophical aspects of Becoming and Being, probably first illustrated 2500 years ago in Plato's Allegory of the Cave, have generally been depicted throughout the history of philosophy, both western and eastern, as opposites:  Becoming can be described as the human tendency toward perpetual discontent--always seeking but never really finding happiness via physical world pleasures.  Being can be described as a state of contentment--finding inner peace and well-being without looking for it elsewhere.  In summary, Becoming leads away from the authentic self, Being is the authentic self--Becoming is always somewhere else; Being is here now.

"How you are seen by others becomes the mirror that tells you what you are like and who you are.  You need others to give you a sense of self, and if you live in a culture that to a large extent equates self-worth with how much and what you have, if you cannot look through this collective delusion, you will be condemned to chasing after things for the rest of your life in the vain hope of finding your worth and completion of your sense of self there." ~ Eckhart Tolle

A modern-day example of Becoming is the idea of climbing the corporate ladder, which is largely motivated by the illusion that money, material wealth and social status are the sources of happiness; and moving higher and higher in prestige will also bring greater sums and money and thus more material wealth, and thus more happiness.

Ultimately, we all want to find meaning and purpose; we want to be self-actualized.  The challenge and illusion, however, is that most of our learning is centered around the idea that actualization comes from money, material wealth and social status.  We are barraged daily by images of people being happy with what their money has bought them--the new house, the new car, the new clothes. 

We are taught, to get the money, the career must be lucrative.  Our educational systems and social conventions implicitly (and sometimes explicitly) guide young people toward careers that are financially redeeming with little or no thought of what is self-redeeming. 

"That which is grows, while that which is not becomes." ~ Galen (AD 129-199)

Perhaps the natural course of life is to learn by process of elimination; by finding what is true by first living what is false.  My concern for others, however, is that they never find the truth--they never find themselves--because they are always on their way to something else--they are always Becoming and never Being.  Perhaps remaining in this illusion is the secret to a happy life but I humbly submit to you that the illusion becomes increasingly difficult to maintain. 

There is nothing wrong with goals; there is nothing wrong with climbing the corporate ladder or any other pursuit to make monetary, material and social "improvements" to your life.  Where problems are introduced and compounded, however, is when you cannot find happiness with where you are now--to find real pleasure in small things--to be aware, to be awake and to be alive. 

If you are climbing a ladder to somewhere else, it is not likely you will find yourself there.

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Related: Self-Actualization is Success in Life & Money 

The Paradox of Death

"…only by facing death will we come to a deeper realization of who we are." ~ Eckhart Tolle

I'm thankful to have been given so many reminders of the beauty and wonder of being alive, not just in the physical sense but in a spiritual sense.  These 'reminders of life' are given by reminders of death.

As a financial planner, investment adviser, father, husband, philosopher, and writer I am constantly surrounded by various aspects of life and death, from life planning to reading existential philosophy to watching my young boys play to deaths of loved ones.  As some of my readers know, I am also working on an eBook, which begins with a chapter on Death.

The reason I am writing yet another post on this subject is because I've recently been given a few more reminders of death.  The first reminder came by way of looking for new material to write and stumbling over a TED talk.  The second reminder will follow this discussion of the first:

How Death Changed a Man's Life

Ric Elias is the CEO of Red Ventures, a marketing services company that grew out of Elias’ long experience in business. What makes Mr. Elias' story poignant is that he had a front-row seat on Flight 1549, the plane that crash-landed in the Hudson River in New York in January 2009. From the moment he heard the pilot stoically announce, "Brace for impact," he had more than enough time to reflect on his past, present and future. What went through his mind as the doomed plane went down? Will he live to see his family again? Was he afraid to die? What might he change if he lives? In this video, he tells his story publicly for the first time and shares 3 things that he learned while the plane was crashing:

1. I no longer want to postpone anything in life. That energy, that purpose has changed everything in my life.  It all changes in an instant... we have all these things we want to do in life.
2. I decided to eliminate negative energy from my life. I no longer try to be right, I choose to be happy.
3. The only thing that matters in my life is to be a good Dad. Dying is not scary but it was very sad. I love my life, I don't want to go now. I want to see my kids grow up.

Mr. Elias goes on to describe how he weeps at the sight of watching his children--the small yet meaningful experiences he thought he'd never see again.  He frames his experience best by asking these two questions: "What would you get done that you're waiting to get done because you think you'll be here forever? How would you change your relationships and the negative energy in them?"

How a Man's Death Can Change Your Life

My second recent reminder of death came from a friend and reader who pointed me to a blog post, profoundly titled The Last Post, published by his family just days after the blogger died of cancer.  For me his death is especially poignent because he was the same age as me.  Here is a brief excerpt from his final words:

It turns out that no one can imagine what's really coming in our lives. We can plan, and do what we enjoy, but we can't expect our plans to work out. Some of them might, while most probably won't. Inventions and ideas will appear, and events will occur, that we could never foresee. That's neither bad nor good, but it is real.

And so we have two experiences that ultimately underscore The Paradox of Death:  Death not only gives meaning to life but is also is the enabler of life.  The proximity to death equals the proximity to life; embrace death and you will live more fully.

"The fear of death follows from the fear of life.  A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time." ~ Mark Twain

Today is your funeral.  What did you miss?  Do not fear that you will die but that you had not lived...

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Related:

To Embrace Death is to Embrace Life

On Mortality, Money & Meaning

Dying to Live