Roshann.my

Let's take a moment to stroll through your thoughts, the very first ones you had today... the particular thoughts you had when you woke up from your deep slumbering state of sleep.

Now, why did you wake up today? What is this urge that drove you out of bed?

The Japanese call this "Ikigai" which translates to a reason for being or more specifically, a reason for getting up in the morning. The French have a similar word, your "raison d’être".

This fundamental question to answer will set you on a journey for a life of meaning. The journey itself is the point, in the same way, you don't go to a musical concert or a play just to see the ending.

Ask yourself: What do you expect from life? Feel your innermost desires and compulsion for being, and why does this matter to you.

Then ponder upon this: What does life expect of you? Your ups and downs, trials and tribulations, successes and failures have led you to this unique moment in your life.

Was it only your expectations of life that brought you here? Or, was it life's expectations of you that played out to you being you now?

You see, for all life is an act of faith and an act of gamble. The moment you take a step, what an act of faith because you don't really know if the floor's gonna give way under your feet. The moment you enter any human undertaking, what an act of faith. You can spend all your life analysing a decision, taking into account every single possibility and uncertainty... then still make an act of gamble.

Did you make the right decision, did you really think this through? Was enough data taken into consideration? If you really think this through, you could never take enough data into consideration. The data needed to make the right decision for any particular situation is infinite. So, what do you do?

You take an act of faith and an act of gamble... you let go. Somehow you know you'll be alright, getting what you expect of life or else, what life expects of you.

What are you saving your life for? What are you wasting your life for? The time you enjoy wasting certainly is not wasted time, we can all attest to that.

It's beautiful in the way we move, towards making our lives meaningful and redefining its meaning as we move. Take an act of faith, to give life what it expects of you and an act of gamble, to receive what you expect of life... you can never know the odds but if you don't play you'll never win.

When a defining moment comes along, you define the moment or the moment defines you.

Gather up what you need, choose a direction and when the moment is right, you've got to go... for all life is an act of faith and an act of gamble.

I'd like to conclude this note with my favourite poem:

O Me! O Life! by Walt Whitman

"Oh me! Oh life! of the questions of these recurring,

Of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities fill’d with the foolish,

Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)

Of eyes that vainly crave the light, of the objects mean, of the struggle ever renew’d,

Of the poor results of all, of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me,

Of the empty and useless years of the rest, with the rest me intertwined,

The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life?

Answer:

That you are here—that life exists and identity,

That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse."