Throughout my youth, I have had a delusion of immortality – a naive denial of the brevity of life. I doubt that this is at all uncommon. In fact, it’s probably how the majority of us humans exist.

To slow down and think about how brief life is, for us and for all beings, is not a natural thing in youth. But it is something that eventually finds its way into our conscience and plays on our minds more frequently.

History is full of appreciation for the fact. Most religions capitalize on our fear of this truth and the uncertainty of what happens next.

I’m reaching mid-life and find that the veils of my youth are becoming thinner as my senior relatives and friends reach the end of their time. I begin to calculate the time and feel the melancholy of the inevitable moments where loved ones become memories … and eventually I will, too.

My heart breaks as I realize how much time I’ve wasted in my life so far. How much of my love and attention have I wasted thinking that there is always tomorrow? Every today is so very, very important. Tomorrows are not guaranteed.

How many opportunities to live have I passed by while focusing on things that don’t matter? I’ve given many years of priority to my job while loved ones and relationships have suffered as a lesser priority. I’ve experienced the irretrievable regret of losing loved ones in my absence.

Life is so incredibly short. It does not pause while we do other things. It is always moving forward and if we don’t wake up and experience the NOW for all that it’s worth, we lose out. We miss it. We wake up someday and realize that it’s over and we want more. But there is no more.

The sadness of traditional music speaks to me now. I understand what the slow mornful melodies say. It’s about life and it’s about living. It’s about loving and sharing. It’s about having treasured memories and about realizing loss.

It all gets away from me so easily and so quickly. My day to day life is so frantically paced – though so much of it is meaningless. I think of 20 years gone by and how little of it was fully lived. So much more I could have shared and given to others.

The point is that each day is all we have.

In my country, USA, we have it pretty easy compared to so many other countries. We are mostly not fighting wars in our neighborhoods every day. Most of us are not literally starving to death each day. Most of us are not living what appears to be a hopeless life without food, water, medicine, education or security. Yet so many of us take our blessings for granted and we don’t live fully.

It is very common to spend more time and attention on public image and material gain than with one’s family and friends. So many spend more time living in fear of not achieving in our careers or not having the right image that we become unaware that we are not achieving in our personal lives, in our relationships and our communities.

The world can be such a violent place where lives end abruptly. War is a constant. Murder, assault, rape, terrorism, disease … these are all constant and claim so many lives each day. Some never live past childhood and some live to very old age. It’s random. Each present moment is all we have. The next moment is never guaranteed.

At the most, we humans have about 100 years. On the average, in the USA, we have 75-80 years. A large number of us won’t make it that long.

I heard someplace that we have about 25,000 sunrises in our lives. How many have you taken the time to see and appreciate? How many do you have left?

I’ve wasted most of mine, so far. It causes me to pause and consider the possible number that I have left. Every day, each moment is a gift. Right now is all that I have. Each past moment is gone forever. The next moment may never come.

This is the brevity of life. It’s time to wake up and be present. Anything else is wasted.