Death And Living

I am not a morbid person but sometimes I think about death. It's probably natural to do so when you have more years behind you than ahead of you. I do not believe that thinking about death is depressing. I do it as a way to challenge how well I live now. The average life expectancy for a man is 75 years. That equates to 27,375 days. I have already used up approximately 20,315 days of my life. That's a sobering thought. That means I have approximately 7,060 days left, if nothing happens to me and the actuaries are on the money with their predictions, to live really well and to do good in the world. I am no different than anyone else. I have wasted days of my life and I regret that. I will probably never do all the things I would like to do. There are certain routines and responsibilities I will have to honor for a while. One thing I can do now and for as long as I have on this planet is to not sweat the small stuff. I once read a two step process for reducing stress in your life. The first step was to not sweat the small stuff. The second step was to realize that most things in life are small stuff. Let's be honest. Do we really have that many major crisis in our life? I think not for the majority of us. Most of what upsets us are little things that are pretty unimportant in the great scheme of life. Yes, sometimes I am petty and little things do annoy me. Most things, however, I let slide right down my back. Most so called "crisis" are not worth more than a passing thought. For whatever time we all have in the world, it is better to love than to hate. It is better to give than to take. It is better to be patient and serene than to be annoyed by every slight or inconvenience. It is better to relax and live than to be uptight about everything. I did not always understand these things. One must have more than a few days of living under their belt to achieve this awareness. I am going to do my best to live my remaining 7000+ days with some zest and a joyful and calm spirit. When I die I want it to be because I have used up all my capacity for living.