Page 17 - eLamdag July 2020

WORDS OF WISDOM UPDATES
DON'T DIE WITH YOUR MUSIC STILL IN YOU
One of the most important positive takeaways from Covid 19 that I see is the gift of time given to us and this is especially true for a senior citizen like me. It presented me with a priceless opportunity to be alone and contemplate with plenty of time the meaning and impact of this pandemic to my life; not so much in what I am doing but more on how I am leading my life.
In one of these moments of contemplation, I recalled a movie I watched with my then governance team at the home of our PSD Kuya Karl and Ate Rose Roque. In the 2009 movie, The Shift, Dr. Wayne Dyer explored the spiritual journey of a group of individuals and couples from ambition (focusing on their goals, achievements, status, possessions) to meaning (focusing on fulfillment, joy, purpose, and what and who matters most to us). The movie has such a powerful impact on me that I have since regarded Dr. Dyer as one of my favorite spiritual authors. Even after his untimely death in 2015.
With Covid 19 upon us and plenty of time given to us as a welcome consequence of the lockdown, I decided that watching Dr. Dyer on YouTube would be one of my priorities. It is from one of his talks that I first heard of the phrase “don’t die with your music still in you”. In that episode, he talked about his 2001 book entitled “10 Secrets for Success and Inner Peace”. While it was written specifically for his children and their generation, the ten principles he outlined which include “don’t die with your music still in you” might as well apply to all of us who desires success and inner peace.
In explaining what the phrase means, Dr Wayne Dyer mentioned about a man named Mikhail Ivanovich, one of the characters in Leo Tolstoy’s classic novel War and Peace. Ivanovich lived his whole life according to other people's expectations. He realized at the end of his life that he was wrong and should have focused on what he knew he should be doing, rather than what others told him he should do. Dr Dyer goes on to say how impactful that was on his own life and how he promised himself not to die with the music still inside him. He clearly didn’t die with his music still in him.
I had my share of ambition focusing on achievement and accumulation, living on someone else’s expectations, because that’s how society defines success. I am truly grateful that by the grace of God, I was led to the BCBP where Jesus showed me the true meaning of success and happiness in His Sermon on the Mount. By being mindful of what truly matters most; a life
of meaning focused on serving and giving back. The BCBP way.
Let’s bring our “music” to life!
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