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Sunday Thought For The Day

blown away
Creative Commons License photo credit: jill d

“Life is but a brief moment. The years go by quickly and old age arrives sud­denly before we have an inkling. Peo­ple desire so many things and waste their days in vain. Some yearn for gold, oth­ers for power, yet oth­ers for glory and a higher sta­tion. But when death’s moment nears and they look back at their lives they’ve lived, they real­ize they’ve been happy only dur­ing those moments when they’ve loved.” ~ Borje Vahamaki

Lance writes sto­ries from his heart, aim­ing to inspire and moti­vate, as you align more fully with YOUR true peak. When he’s not here, you can find him hang­ing out with his fam­ily, rid­ing a bike, or just gen­er­ally act­ing goofy.   Sign up for the Thoughts from the Tree­house newslet­ter and get addi­tional inspi­ra­tion in your email inbox!
Lance Ekum
View all posts by Lance Ekum

Comments

  1. Tristan Lee says:

    I agree that time goes by fast. In terms of the uni­verse, our life span of hun­dreds years or so is far less than a sec­ond. This quote reminds me that we shouldn’t always spend our entire life build­ing upon our own ego (eg. money, power, fame, etc.) but spend many moments, while we’re here, giv­ing love to the peo­ple we care for and mak­ing them happy. If we can make oth­ers feel loved, then we can cer­tainly feel loved our­selves as well. This is part of the way to true hap­pi­ness.
    .-= Tris­tan Lee´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..How to Use Sen­sory Sym­bols to Your Advan­tage =-.

  2. HI lance
    Another won­der­ful quote!! I agree completely…Life is so short, to be wor­ried about mate­r­ial things. Life needs to be cel­e­brated to it fullest and lived pas­sion­ately. for in this pas­sion for life we will find the love we all ache for. In giv­ing love we will receive love and last­ing happiness..and yes those are the moments that will truly count. Those are our life’s Earnings…and they will be the only cur­rency that will amount to any­thing in the House of The Maker.
    Thank you for shar­ing such beau­ti­ful words Lance :)
    .-= Zeenat{Positive Provocations}´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Explore Dream Discover{Inspirational Quote} =-.

  3. Joanna says:

    Bravo! This year has been all about change, reflec­tion, and action for me. So much per­sonal growth. At the end of my life on Earth, I don’t want to be known as the per­son that always worked over­time (and in the process never had time for fam­ily and friends).

    Live. Life. LARGE! (with a lot of love!)
    .-= Joanna´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Sun­day School =-.

  4. Mindful Mimi says:

    The Bea­t­les said it well ‘All you need is love’. I would add to that, all you need to do is give love and you’ll do just fine :-)
    Have a great week Lance.
    M
    .-= Mind­ful Mimi´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Sun­day laugh =-.

  5. BunnygotBlog says:

    I am not a mate­ri­al­is­tic per­son. I hate clut­ter and this includes objects and things that may be stored in my mind from past events.
    One must always look a head and not use up pre­cious time dwelling on the could have been or should haves. Be happy you have had the oppor­tu­nity and allow your­self to open a new door.
    .-= BunnygotBlog´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..I Put A Spell On You =-.

  6. Miz says:

    for me it’s when Ive loved and let go.
    sur­ren­dered.
    .-= Miz´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Breast can­cer, radi­a­tion, & call­ing COMMUNITY. =-.

  7. Lance, what a pow­er­ful thought! Thanks for shar­ing it. It’s got my wheels turning…off to open the win­dow to clear out some of this smoke! :)
    .-= Natalia Burleson´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Life is fly­ing by! =-.

  8. Lynn says:

    Another lovely quote, Lance. It is true that love is at the cen­ter of every­thing.
    .-= Lynn´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Mys­ti­cally mag­i­cal, lis­ten­ing and a good thing =-.

  9. Yum Yucky says:

    Ahh yes. The pur­suit of “things” and “stuff” won’t mat­ter in the end. It’s “Love” that never fails.

    ((hugs)) to you Lance!
    .-= Yum Yucky´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Freez­ing Sea­son Killed My Work­out =-.

  10. I have, for the longest time believed that it is our con­nec­tion to peo­ple, above all else, that helps give us hope and peace and the abil­ity to “keep on keep­ing on” in this life. When I hear things on the news about mur­der, rob­bery, etc, I can’t help but think “who loves these peo­ple?” And my heart breaks for them. I know for myself, feel­ing lonely is the biggest stress in my life and I am reminded daily about how lucky I am to be sur­rounded by friends and fam­ily who love me, and who I love and sup­port as well. When it goes both ways, that is good living.

  11. Liara Covert says:

    You do not direct the fire of life. It directs you, guides you inspires you and loves you to pieces.
    .-= Liara Covert´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..What trig­gers a rev­e­la­tion? =-.

  12. Lance the photo really cap­tures the essence of the quote. Gor­geous image. And the image also reminds us that even after our lives end…life itself continues…perhaps because of the love we shared, we have released seeds into the universe…promises of tomorrow.

  13. Lance says:

    @Tristan — Money, power, fame…they can all be so tempt­ing. They’re empty, though, with­out love. With love as our foun­da­tion, the rest is just gravy. And it’s not our ego that gets built up, it’s our true com­pas­sion… Thanks much for being here, Tristan.

    @Zeenat — Hi Zeenat. As I sit here today and think about it — wow — it just seems like yes­ter­day that I was off in col­lege. And that’s nowwhere even close to recent! Our time is fleet­ing. And that reminds me very much of a short video — http://www.theyearsareshort.com/ — and how quickly our moments are going by. And it reminds me very much, that these are moments to treasure…all of them. Love…

    @Joanna — Hi Joanna. And you are, in so many, many ways — a shin­ing light of really lis­ten­ing to your heart. And that light reaches out and touches so many…reaches out and touches me. Bravo! And may that light come back to you a thou­sand times over…

    @Mimi — The Bea­t­les were onto some­thing there, weren’t they! And you’re right Mimi, giv­ing love is all we need. And in that giv­ing, the love we share will come back to us each in such amaz­ing ways. That’s what is so awe­some about love (the verb…in action).

    @Bunny — Hi Bunny. Yes, clut­ter. And what’s inter­est­ing as I read this, is how you view clut­ter not only in terms of mate­r­ial items, but alsow the clut­ter we keep in our minds. I love that! And when we can clear out some of this clut­ter, we’re giv­ing our­selves a clearer path toward our true selves. And toward love…

    @Miz — Sur­ren­der­ing to love… or, maybe as lov­ing with expec­ta­tion. So good, and moments that can take us to a whole new plane of feeling.

    @Natalia — Hi Natalia. And it’s good to get the wheels turn­ing, isn’t it! This does for me too — espe­cially if I read it and let the mes­sage really soak in — how brief our time is, and see­ing the con­nec­tion to love.

    @Lynn — Love is at the center…which I see as touch­ing upon our core, or our true cen­ter as well.

    @Yum Yucky — “Love that never fails”…that line, Josie, says so much. Love is the rock upon which we stand, it’s the core or our soul, it’s the truth of our lives. Love mat­ters. Much love to you, my friend…

  14. Laurie says:

    Yes, there are some things I would like to have but for me, life is more about doing, being, and lov­ing. Doing the kinds of things that really match with who I am. Being a per­son of integrety…honorable and authen­tic. And lov­ing, lov­ing God, oth­ers and self. When I am lov­ing God, oth­ers and self, I think the first two (doing and being) would come nat­u­rally with­out force. I believe doing and being flows from loving.

    Great quote Lance! Happy Sun­day to you my friend!

  15. This is so absolutely true that it feels impos­si­ble to add any­thing to it. The best I can do it’s to com­ment that love can be expressed with action, and that any action, no mat­ter how minute, becomes glo­ri­ous when it’s done for love alone.
    .-= Miguel de Luis´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..The Last Run­ner (An Evenso and me story) =-.

  16. Jan says:

    A won­der­ful reminder, Lance. I read some­thing the other day (from a Bud­dhist teacher, I imag­ine) that sug­gested that when we take a breath, we could breathe in as if it is our very first breath, and breathe out like it is the very last breath we will ever take. Can you imag­ine the joy and appre­ci­a­tion we’d expe­ri­ence if we were that mind­ful of every sin­gle moment of our lives? Hope your Sun­day is love and joy-filled. May we all BE the love we desire.…

  17. suzen says:

    Hi Lance!
    Well if that doesn’t just say it all! I can remem­ber my par­ents and grand­par­ents telling me when I was younger, that life goes by in flash, and to trea­sure those who come into your life by giv­ing them love and enjoy the days of sun­shine feel­ing you are loved in returned. I read all of your won­der­ful blogs about love, com­pas­sion and reflec­tion and I am in awe of the truly inspir­ing nature of what you write about, you Lance, and many of your con­tem­po­raries. It fills me with such great hope for the future of this planet! There is a level of aware­ness that was not present 30 years ago. It is as pre­cious to me as it is totally refreshing!

    Trust me. Noth­ing smacks of reflec­tion like being in your 60’s! I am hum­bled by your posts. You are a true trea­sure, Lance! Keep it up! The world needs all of this and many are begin­ning to lis­ten!
    Hugs from an oldie but goodie,
    suZen

  18. Carpe diem is what I tell myself every morn­ing. None of the mate­r­ial things are of impor­tance to me. Love is indeed the true source to ALL of my joy in life. This love guides me to be who I am and to do the things that will make my Father happy. (:

    A Won­der­ful Quote Lance!

  19. Evita says:

    Hi Lance — It is so, so true — life is pre­cious and so many of us get caught up in all the “doing” — that days, weeks, months, years pass us by and we look back and may won­der what was it all for any­way? And indeed real­ize that the best moments were those spent on love — what­ever form that may come in.

    Trea­sur­ing each moment in life today has become a part of each day for me and it feels really, really good. I just got to the point where I wanted to live a life, where I would have no regrets in the end — so far, so good ;)

  20. Keith says:

    To give love and to receive love really is “it”. All the other is great but take away love and every­thing else very quickly loses any meaning.

    Thanks, Lance, for putting this thought in the fore­front of my mind this morn­ing. :-)

  21. Tim says:

    Lance:

    Thank you for another great quote and beau­ti­ful photo. It is another reminder for us to really make the most of the present moment, because its the only moment we really have. Have a great week!

  22. Erin Brooks says:

    This year my fam­ily has gone through a lot, with finances and won­der­ing if we would even make it. The thing that kept us going is that in the end we knew we would still be together.

    I feel so blessed to be loved uncon­di­tion­ally by my hus­band. We have been through many tri­als, my ver­bally abu­sive father who dis­owned me, the death of my mother, the car acci­dent, my health… I’ve tried to get rid of this man but he wont go lol.
    With love you can tackle any­thing and everything!

  23. Lance says:

    @Stacey Ship­man — And this I believe too — it’s the peo­ple, not the things that mat­ter. In fact, with­out the love and sup­port of other peo­ple, those “things” that we also have in our life feel empty. And that’s exactly because we crave, deep down, human con­nec­tion. And I’m sure we all have those moments when we feel alone — more alone than we want to. And it’s those moments, when we’re feel­ing like some­thing is miss­ing, that we truly see what love is all about, and how much it means. And I guess that’s not to say we’ll never feel lonely again — I’m sure we will. Maybe it’s in remem­ber­ing that, as lonely as we might feel, love will bring us back from that. And there’s such good news in that, I think — in that we can always look within our own heart, to find that spot of love, love the verb — and take it out into our world…

    @Liara — The “fire of life”…what I would also call love that comes very deeply from your soul, and such a beau­ti­ful place to draw from.

    @Laura Heg­field — Wow, I love how you’ve viewed this pic­ture. It’s much of the essence that drew me to this, yet this idea of the seed of love is not the thought I had. And that’s such a beau­ti­ful way to view this, as we go out and give our love, we releas­ing that love into our world, to who knows how far it might spread! Thanks so much, Laura, for shar­ing how you see this pic­ture today…

    @Laurie — Hi Lau­rie. So, by focus­ing on love as the base, the rest just falls into place. I really do love that thought, Lau­rie. We’re then being and doing what is spo­ken from our heart. And that’s such a good place to be! Happy Sun­day to you, too!

    @Miguel — Love as a verb! Isn’t that a great way to think about love. The action of love! In doing, with love at the core — that is indeed glorious!

    @Jan — Wow. Jan, this thought is so deep. Deep in how we truly expe­ri­ence life, and how we see the moment of that breath. In that moment — our life — what does it rep­re­sent? And with every breath we take, what joy and appre­ci­a­tion are we truly see­ing. As I try that, I’m taken aback at how dif­fi­cult it is to fully imag­ine this set­ting — it’s taken sev­eral breaths to get to a spot that is even some­what close. And when I am there, I am so much see­ing the beauty of life, in a way that is really so hard to fully describe. Beau­ti­ful, Jan, thank you so much for shar­ing this…

    @Suzen — Hi Suzen. Well, I’m both hum­bled and smil­ing as I read here today. I’m hum­bled by your words, thank you so much for all you’re say­ing. I’m touched deeply. And I’m smiling…you, my friend, are not old at all — not in years, and espe­cially not in spirit! Know also that it is so good to be here, and to con­nect at a deeper level, with so many amaz­ing souls, with you. You’re a shin­ing light of hope, Suzen. Know that you have made a dif­fer­ence in my life…you pres­ence is moving…

  24. Lance says:

    @Tabitha — Each day is a new day, and our oppor­tu­nity to seize what­ever lies in front of us. When that is rooted in love, what a beau­ti­ful place to go forth from! And I know you do, in so many beau­ti­ful ways! Your gifts are many, Tabitha, includ­ing your pres­ence here…a gift always…

    @Evita — Hi Evita. If our moments are based on love, we’re com­ing from a place that has deep mean­ing to us in some way. And that is a good place to be…good in that it’s what mat­ters. And I know from read­ing your writ­ings, Evita, that you very much have a basis of love, and see so much good in what can be. And that is a gift you give the world, a gift that you give to me… Namaste, my friend…

    @Keith — Hi Keith. Yes, with­out love, what do we really have? We have an empti­ness, and as much as we try to fill that empit­ness with “things”, with­out love, we’ll never come close to fill­ing it…

    @Tim — Hi Tim. The present moment…all we really and truly have. How are we spend­ing that time? What is our focus? In that answer lies the truth… And that’s an answer that is so worth finding.

    @Erin Brooks — Erin, know that my heart goes out to you. What you’ve been through is not easy. Hav­ing a sup­port­ive and lov­ing part­ner can make a world of dif­fer­ence. Know that the love in your heart, it’s there, and when you touch upon that spot — you con­nect with that deeper part of you, the you that will find a way, even in those dark days. And know also — that you are an inspi­ra­tion to me, you shine only beau­ti­ful light into this world — and that IS love, that is from a heart that cares very much for the world, that IS you. Erin, know that your being here and shar­ing so openly touches my heart… May you find peace through the amaz­ing love within you.

  25. Hi Lance,

    Awe­some quote. May we all make the most out of every moment and real­ize that in the end it is all about love! Yay! :)
    .-= Nadia — Happy Lotus´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Trou­ble Is A Friend: Invest­ing In Peo­ple And Not Things =-.

  26. John says:

    This quotes is incred­i­bly pow­er­ful. I had the cra­zi­est dream last night that res­onates with this. All I can remem­ber is that a lady was a preg­nant single-mother, poor, and liv­ing in the slums and I cried because I couldn’t pro­tect her. Even though I know it was just a dream, sit­u­a­tions like these do hap­pen in real life.

    I guess what I’m try­ing to say is that I’ve lived out my 19 years and have done noth­ing to truly help peo­ple. Pres­i­dent after Pres­i­dent comes and says, “I’ll give help to the needy”, and yet there are still those who are in need. Well, I’m done depend­ing on the Pres­i­dent to fix every­thing. I want to start small (make an online busi­ness so I can reclaim my time), travel over­seas alone just to get a feel­ing of con­nect­ing with oth­ers. And then, when I return… I’ll have to find a way to help the poor.

    Maybe this is just a pathetic dream, but I don’t care… I will do some­thing. I will not waste my life by giv­ing it to another (a boss). I do not make money in the pur­suit of things, but in the pur­suit of expe­ri­ences. Expe­ri­ences to have fun in life, to help oth­ers, to change people’s lives.
    .-= John´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..What I’ve Been Read­ing This Week – Issue 1 =-.

  27. We are on this earth for such a short time. I know I’ve wasted many hours drink­ing beer, watch­ing bad TV, and wor­ry­ing about things I can’t change.

    I’ve turned the cor­ner when I started blog­ging. I was focused on help­ing oth­ers instead of my wor­ry­ing about myself. Now I’m send­ing out love into the uni­verse and get­ting a lot of love back. Blog­ging is such a great plat­form and I feel lucky to be alive in this day and age.
    .-= Karl — Work Happy Now´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Hard, Fun, and the Beau­ti­ful – Before it Gets Cold Edi­tion =-.

  28. Hi Lance,

    This is so true. It reminds me of how we often hear when some­one is on their deathbed, they don’t say “I wish I had spent more time at work, or mak­ing money”. It the love of oth­ers that guild them “home”.
    .-= Bar­bara Swafford´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Pajama Blog­ging – Fact or Fic­tion =-.

  29. Wilma Ham says:

    Loved is more pow­er­ful than we think. Love cre­ates, love attracts and love man­i­fests.
    Life is about lov­ing moments and love is our legacy for­ever.
    When I real­ized that, har­vest­ing love is what life is about.
    And it feels lovely to do of course as it gen­er­ates love around us and will make us feel safe as being unloved it the biggest poverty of all.
    Love is great, look at us all for being in agree­ment.
    .-= Wilma Ham´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Part 1. Hate mak­ing requests? You’d bet­ter get over it. They are key to hav­ing you fly. =-.

  30. This quote is remind­ing me of some­thing I’m wrestling with in my head right now: the so-called bal­ance between doing and being. In “doing,” I find myself seek­ing val­i­da­tion through accom­plish­ments. In “being,” I find I can acknowl­edge accom­plish­ments around me with greater clar­ity and aware­ness. I also find I can rec­og­nize love more eas­ily… And time goes by more slowly, and with greater mean­ing. And yet my mind still wres­tles. It feels I must always be “doing,” and resists “being.“
    I’m going to med­i­tate on this since it seems to be ask­ing me to find peace where it’s con­cerned. Thank you, Lance!
    .-= Megan “Joy­Girl!” Bord´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..A Study in Sib­ling Reverie =-.

  31. Lance says:

    @Nadia — Hi Nadia. When is based on love, it’s all good! Great hav­ing you here today.

    @John — Hi John. And this isn’t pathetic at all. Help­ing oth­ers in a gen­uine and real way is a won­der­ful gift to give. And that you’re think­ing about this, espe­cially at a young age — John, your heart is in the right place. Keep on believ­ing in all the good you can do!

    @Karl — Hey, that sounds like my youth you’re talk­ing about! I think the beauty of blog­ging is that you have a real oppor­tu­nity to con­nect your words to your heart. And then, through blog­ging, there’s this whole com­mu­nity feel that can start to develop, help­ing us to even fur­ther under­stand our deeper selves. At least, that’s been my expe­ri­ence, and that’s you being here… Thanks much, my friend.

    @Barbara — Hi Bar­bara. It’s easy to go through life and think I’ll do that when… and before we know it, “when” has never shown up. Now is what we have, and love is where it’s at. A great reminder Bar­bara, thank you!

    @Wilma — Oh, what really jumps out at me here, is “…as being unloved it the biggest poverty of all”. Wilma, that’s such a strong state­ment as to the real power of love. And I really do feel that what you’re say­ing is so “right on”. Every­thing else is empty with­out love. And it is what con­nects us to those around us… So good to have you here today, Wilma, and shar­ing these beau­ti­ful thoughts.

    @Megan — Megan, I know the wrestling you’re doing. I’m there too. In “doing”, there is that real feel­ing of accom­plish­ment. And in “being”, there is that con­nect­ing feel­ing with some­thing deeper. Yet, “being” feels like at times I’m slack­ing off. It’s still so good, though. And the wrestling…well, it’s in my mind. And so, it’s get­ting to that spot of lis­ten­ing more to my heart. And to what it’s say­ing. I think, when I’m at that spot, when I’m con­nect­ing more fully with my heart, I see the “being” as sup­port­ing the “doing”…and it feels right. Stay­ing there, of course, is the hard part… Megan, know that I wish you only the best as you wres­tle with these thoughts, thoughts I’m very much famil­iar with.

  32. Tracy says:

    You know, it’s para­dox­i­cal, but amaz­ing how much more I’m able to accom­plish with work and such things when I remind myself that it’s not what will mat­ter in the end. That knowl­edge allows me to relax and take things as they come, instead of becom­ing increas­ingly stressed and unable to function.

    Not that that’s the rea­son I value moments with the peo­ple I love doing the things I love, but it’s an inter­est­ing side effect.

  33. Audra Krell says:

    I loved Karl’s hon­est com­ments. That is the beauty of your read­ers Lance, they are so authen­tic. They allow their writ­ing to keep them hon­est. Amen to this post, it’s the lov­ing that really mat­ters.
    .-= Audra Krell´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Find Your Strongest Life =-.

  34. Lance…there’s a theme in the last few Sundays.…Are you try­ing to tell us some­thing? Like maybe we should live, breathe and feel each moment? I think so, Lance.

    I think there is a big con­nec­tion to liv­ing moments of love and to being present in the moment. In order for us to feel the moments of love, we must stop hur­ry­ing and stress­ing out. There is an amaz­ing poem by Neruda about stop­ping and being quiet. When we allow our hearts to be quiet and lis­ten, we emerge more fully into this very pre­cious moment.

    This has been my focus over the last half year and it is has made all the dif­fer­ence.
    .-= Katie West/The Lev­ity Coach´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Daily Levity:The Fun The­ory =-.

  35. This quote (and blog) came at the per­fect time for me. I, like Karl (and many oth­ers, no doubt) have wasted count­less hours drink­ing wine and wal­low­ing in self-pity, all while surf­ing the net look­ing at things I wished I could buy. Now that I have changed my focus I can say I am liv­ing closer to the present, how­ever I have a long way to go.

  36. Lori says:

    Hi Lance,
    If this is the same Borje Vahamaki I’ve heard of, he taught at the U of Min­nesota, close to my alma mater. That’s very inter­est­ing — and groovy!

    The thing about the Borje Vahamaki quote, is that this not only applies to old age, but one never knows when one’s life will dras­ti­cally change and lead to a highly trun­cated menu of options.
    And, you know what? I my case, I don’t dream and rem­i­nisce about the jobs I’ve had, or the suc­cess I’ve savored, I often think about the love in my life and how that has man­i­fested over time. I think about the really good times, and all those times are rooted in love. Absolutely.
    Great choice for a quote this week, my friend.
    ~xo
    .-= Lori´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Of Defec­tion and Lemon­ade =-.

  37. Linda Davis says:

    Thank you, this post seri­ously brought tears to my eyes. My father died not know­ing how many peo­ple love him. He was so con­sumed with the thought of mak­ing money. He unex­pect­edly died and he didn’t get to feel the sim­plic­ity of what life has to bring, or that many peo­ple love him for who he is, and not for what he has. I wish that dur­ing the last few sec­onds of his life, he was able to real­ize that there are many peo­ple who love him.
    .-= Linda Davis´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Recov­er­ing from Tragedy – Help­ing Your Fam­ily to For­give =-.

  38. Wow, nice quote, Lance. I can’t agree more. What good is any worldly suc­cess unless you are sur­rounded by peo­ple you love?

    Btw, finally, finally, posted a cou­ple of video of me singing on my blog. Sorry it isn’t the hippo song, though. I’m afraid that’ll just have to live on in your mem­ory :-)

    Have a great week ahead!
    .-= Jewel/Pink Ink´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Ain’t No Sun­shine =-.

  39. Time goes back in a blink. Just look at how fast your chil­dren change. A new­born looks dif­fer­ent every minute, and before you know it that new­born is grad­u­at­ing from high school.

    How I spend my time dur­ing the day shows me where my pri­or­i­ties are. I needed this reminder to stay focused on the pri­or­i­ties of those I love!!
    .-= Diane Fit to the Finish´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Does Obe­sity Iso­late Us? =-.

  40. Peggy Nolan says:

    How true this quote! I am hap­pi­est when I am lov­ing and being loved. And it’s an inside out feeling…because inside is where it needs to start. As Bud­dha said, “All answers lie within…do not seek with­out.“
    .-= Peggy Nolan´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Your Moment of Bliss =-.

  41. That is so sweetly true indeed! It’s always about the love, always has been and always will be. And if one can make one’s work about The Love (Mother Theresa comes to mind,) one has it made! I think you embody the Love Thing Lance.
    .-= Jan­nie Funster´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Rose DesRochers: Just how Great IS She? =-.

  42. FatFighterTV says:

    That is so beau­ti­ful and so very true. I can’t get over how fast time goes. I feel very for­tu­nate for all the love I have in my life.
    .-= FatFighterTV´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Bar­ney But­ter give­away =-.

  43. Angelia Sims says:

    Hi Lance!
    I love, love, love that photo. I can almost feel the sun on my face and the wind blow­ing my hair. There is noth­ing like love. My heart hurts for those who have never opened them­selves to it. I am say­ing a lit­tle prayer for them today. Thank you for that.
    .-= Angelia Sims´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Sun­day Healthy Reflec­tion =-.

  44. Lance says:

    @Tracy — Work that mat­ters is…work that really does mat­ter, and it’s so much eas­ier to focus on that. And that is a great thought, one that’s mak­ing me think about what really matters…and see­ing that same correlation.

    @Audra — Hey Audra. And I think when some­one, like Karl, is will­ing to share so authen­ti­cally — it makes oth­ers feel okay in where they’re at on their jour­ney — and that it’s okay to share both their own good and bad expe­ri­ences. And it’s in those expe­ri­ences — both the good and bad — that we learn from each other.

    @Katie — That’s inter­est­ing what you’ve noticed. I try to choose some­thing that “speaks” to me, in the moment — some­times that’s a con­cept, sometime’s it’s some­thing very spe­cific. And I’ve felt the same gen­eral idea speak­ing to me for a few weeks now. Hmmm…I won­der if that means some­thing deeper than I’ve been tak­ing it so far? Some­times it’s hard to focus on “slow­ing down” and lis­ten­ing. When we do though, it can be a real moment of clar­ity. Do you think that maybe we rush around too much some­times? And where does that get us? Maybe only to the wrong place sooner… Okay, I’m off to search for that Neruda poem…

    @Tay — Hi Tay, and wel­come! I’ve been there, too…wasting away the days in things that are adding no value to my life. You’ll get there. Just keep on that path that’s tak­ing you toward liv­ing what your heart yearns for…it’s there, in you…

    @Lori — Hi Lori. Well…I believe it is that person…the guy who taught at the U of Min­nesota. Very cool! And so true — it doesn’t at all have to be old age that brings us to this real­iza­tion. In fact, the sooner we can fully real­ize this, the bet­ter off we are. I very much feel love when I think of you, Lori. And I think that’s because it comes out in you, and you project that from your being. And that’s so good to see, and be taken in by…

    @Linda — Linda, thank you for being here today. And more than that, thank you for shar­ing so openly how this has affected you because of your father. I deeply feel what you’re say­ing, and there’s some­thing about hear­ing a first-hand account that dri­ves this point home even more. Thank you, so much for openly shar­ing this heart-wrenching story.

    @Jewel — Hi Jewel! With­out love, what’s every­thing we have really worth? That’s it, for sure. And hey, I’ll be over to check out your site! The hippo song…well, I guess I’ll just stick with the image in my head — and that’s a good one!!! Happy Monday!

  45. Lance says:

    @Diane — Hi Diane. Yes, look­ing at my own kids is such an exam­ple of how times goes by in a flash. It seems like just yes­ter­day that they were babies…and now those days are long gone. How we spend our time, that is most def­i­nitely a reflec­tion of where our pri­or­i­ties are. And some­times, it’s good to revisit that and see if our pri­or­i­ties are in line with our values…

    @Peggy Nolan — Ah…good stuff from Bud­dha. Yes, it’s what comes from inside that really makes a dif­fer­ence — a dif­fer­ence in who we are and where our focus is.

    @Jannie — Mother Theresa pretty much rocked at this, didn’t she (even if she didn’t seem like that much of a rocker…she cer­tainly was, in her own way!). Work based on love…a won­der­ful place to be.

    @FatFighterTV — Hi Sahar. That’s so great to hear, because it’s love that is the core of who we are — and when we’re sur­rounded by that, what a beau­ti­ful place to be…

    @Angelia — Hi Angelia. The sun on my face…and as I look out­side today, sun shin­ing brightly on this beau­ti­ful autumn day in Wis­con­sin — I know exactly what you mean — the warmth of the sun, much like the warmth of the love we give and receive. Open­ing our hearts…you know, I find that inter­est­ing that you bring this up. There is so much agree­ment here that love is so, so good. And yet, some­times open­ing our hearts can feel like the hard­est thing to do — like we’ll be mak­ing our­selves vul­ner­a­ble because we do that. Hmmm…I know I’ve been there. And I won­der, if at some level, I’m prob­a­bly there yet today. I’m think­ing, today…what this all means to me…now, even more after read­ing your words…

  46. Kaushik says:

    I will die. Life would be so much eas­ier for most of us if we could really hold on to this truth.
    .-= Kaushik´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Inno­cence… =-.

  47. Patricia says:

    I have gone to 6 retire­ment gath­er­ings in this past year, and I real­ized that I do not have any­thing to retire from except exces­sive vol­un­teer­ing and fund-raising. I am kind of feel­ing grumpy and “put upon” by all the folks who are expect­ing me to keep on doing it and just keep jump­ing in and doing it their way.

    I decided to retire from Vol­un­teer­ing. I am doing my own fund-raiser right now and not some­one else’s — although I worked on the Susan G Koman one 4 dif­fer­ent ways this year…everyone I know keeps telling me to get a job…I have been doing that since I was 11; work­ing odd jobs for others.

    I am work­ing on lov­ing myself and my actions.…because that is my pas­sion right now.…Nice cheer­lead­ing here — thank you
    .-= Patricia´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..An Invi­ta­tion to a HARVEST POTLUCK =-.

  48. Robin Easton says:

    Dear Lance, This is sooooo pow­er­ful. I have found it the absolute truth in my life. We are truly blessed if we can see this BEFORE we are on Death’s door. For me it is my life’s pur­pose: to over and over every day, every moment, remem­ber, expe­ri­ence and KNOW what is truly impor­tant in Life, and to let the rest go. 99.999% of what we think mat­ters, does NOT mat­ter. When we can see this we are open to a whole world of expe­ri­ence, vital­ity, renewal and love at our fin­ger tips.

    —I had to chuckle when I read this. We must be on the same wave length, as I just started a five part series of posts on Death. I know it might sound macabre to some but it is in essence a series on Life.

    Hug­ging you,
    Robin :)
    .-= Robin Easton´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Five Per­spec­tives on Death =-.

  49. Jeanne says:

    This quote is amaz­ing
    Love all you share
    Many bless­ings
    Love Jeanne?
    .-= Jeanne´s Last Fab­u­lous Post .. =-.

  50. Walter says:

    Peo­ple are fool­ish, they are not aware that the most impor­tant thing in life is in front of them–the peo­ple they love and the peo­ple who loves them. :-)

  51. Lisa's Chaos says:

    Amen! What per­fect words.
    .-= Lisa’s Chaos´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Macro Mon­day – the drag­on­fly =-.

  52. Julie says:

    Hi, Lance. “…they real­ize they’ve been happy only dur­ing those moments when they’ve loved.”

    Yes, this is the key to liv­ing life to the fullest, I think; to be able to dis­cern, which method of lov­ing is the best one to offer in each moment and to honor that, to give that. To be that. Just this morn­ing, I pon­dered the things that give life mean­ing. With­out any hes­i­ta­tion, it came to me: love, joy, con­nec­tion, cel­e­bra­tion. …that mean­ing is found in the happy joy we feel when shar­ing love. Shar­ing in what­ever way we can. Lov­ing in what­ever way we can.

    I recently wrote a friend, say­ing that I used to keep hop­ing for the day I’d become per­fect, because then life would truly be a state of “hap­pily ever after.” Now, though, I’ve finally real­ized there are an infi­nite num­ber of expe­ri­ences which will pro­vide me the oppor­tu­nity to choose the lov­ing thought and behav­ior, and that by always mak­ing that choice, thereby instantly trans­port­ing myself into “hap­pily ever” once again, my life will be an unend­ing series of “hap­pily ever after MOMENTS.” And in that, I would be truly blessed.
    .-= Julie´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Sim­ply Divine =-.

  53. Rose says:

    Times moves by fast. I use to live my life in doubt always try­ing to live up to the stan­dards oth­ers set for me. Then I real­ized at the end of life the only impor­tant ques­tion would be: “Did I live life as I saw fit?“
    .-= Rose´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..End Fat Talk– Together we can change the world =-.

  54. Carla says:

    That quote is spot on; time does move on so fast. I look back over my almost 31 years and the best moments so far that I recall were the ones that I was loved and gave love in return. This is a good reminder for us to really focus on what’s impor­tant in life
    .-= Carla´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..The Two Dol­lar Bill =-.

  55. Lance says:

    @Kaushik — Three very pow­er­ful words…“I will die.”. With­out hav­ing had some sort of expe­ri­ence with death, on a very per­sonal level — those words may not come into our radar very often. If we can, though, keep their focus — how we love life can really change. It comes from a deeper level of what really mat­ters. Such a great thought, thank you!

    @Patricia — Lov­ing ourselves…so impor­tant to really hav­ing that con­nec­tion first within, so that we can then go out­ward and share that love. And share it in what works for each of us — not what some­one in impos­ing upon us. Patri­cia, it is good for you to do it your way…

    @Robin Eas­ton — Hello Robin. Find­ing that which truly mat­ters, amongst the clutter…not nec­es­sar­ily an easy thing to do. And that’s because there is usu­ally a lot of clut­ter (and some even dis­guised as the truly impor­tant). I know I some­times get caught up in that clut­ter. when I can put myself in that place where I’m deeply con­nect­ing to love — at my core — I do feel this exactly as you describe — in beau­ti­ful ways. And Robin, it’s so good being on the same wave­length at you…

    @Jeanne — Thank you Jeanne.

    @Walter — It’s easy to get caught up in the triv­ial and that which doesn’t matter…when all we need, love, is right there for us. Right there, within our own soul…

    @Lisa’s Chaos — Thank you Lisa.

    @Julie — At our core, I think we all have the same basic wants — joy, love, con­nec­tion. It’s in allow­ing that core within us to shine through, and to express those wants and feel­ings in our unique ways. And I love how you’ve writ­ten to your friend about “hap­pily ever after”. We are who we are, each one of us — and our life expe­ri­ences help to shape us. And when we can act out of a love that comes from within, in all the moments of our life — life can be “hap­pily ever after” in all of those moments. Julie, thank you so much for being here, and shar­ing so beautifully.

    @Rose — Yes, who are we liv­ing our life for? It mat­ters not what oth­ers around us think — it’s how we feel about where we’re at and what we’re doing. Easy to say, not always easy to do. So good to see you at this place in your life where you’re march­ing to your own drum…

    @Carla — Hi Carla. Oh, that’s so good — this idea of look­ing back over where we’ve been in our life, and deeply see­ing what moments really stand out…and why. And what role love played in those moments. Thanks so much, Carla, for shar­ing these thoughts.

  56. Diane AZ says:

    When the search for some­thing bet­ter is over, we are free like the dan­de­lion seeds in the image. Free from desire, all that remains is grat­i­tude and love.
    .-= Diane AZ´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Ruby Tues­day — Sonora =-.

  57. Jenny says:

    That is so not how I expected the quote to end and it made me sad to think how true that really is. Peo­ple need to stop try­ing so hard to do things and take the time to enjoy what life has to offer!
    .-= Jenny´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Ask­ing for a Mir­a­cle by the Pool =-.

  58. Hi Lance — this brings to mind some­thing I’ve observed both in myself and in oth­ers — that we tend to see love as some­thing we need to “earn” through accom­plish­ments in the world. But it turns out for so many of us that no amount of money or rela­tion­ships or any­thing brings us that feel­ing of being loved that we want, because we keep deny­ing our­selves our own love — and real love can’t be con­di­tioned on worldly suc­cess anyway.

  59. This post is a reminder for me that it’s ok to step away and take a break from tech­nol­ogy. It’s easy to get immersed in it and for­get to live “in the moment.“
    .-= Ricardo Bueno´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Social Media: You Just Gotta Try It =-.

  60. Lance says:

    @Diane AZ — Hi Diane. I love what you’ve writ­ten, wow — it’s so sim­ple and so true. When we’re free from desire, love is what remains…

    @Jenny — Hi Jenny. When that hap­pens, it is sad. Sad when it takes our own impend­ing death to real­ize what really mat­ters in life. And I think that’s the mes­sage here for all of us, no mat­ter where we are in our life — now is the time to focus on that deep love within us.

    @Chris Edgar — Yes, accom­plish­ments, acco­lades, money — things that might at some point seem like we’ve “earned” the love. That’s not how love is earned though, is it. Love is earned when love is given. And espe­cially when that is love with­out expect­ing some­thing in return. Great thoughts, Chris, thanks!

    @Ricardo — Hi Ricardo. Great to see you here! Tech­nol­ogy can be a great thing — but that’s just it — it’s a thing. And it’s peo­ple and the deep and mean­ing­ful con­nec­tions with oth­ers that mat­ter. And those are the real “moments” of life. Great thoughts!

  61. Caroline says:

    Well…that just puts every­thing in per­spec­tive, doesn’t it!

    Here’s to love…giving and receiv­ing it :)
    .-= Caroline´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Clean! =-.

  62. This post reminds me of how often we act like the game of life is to check as many things off the never-ending to do list as pos­si­ble. Which is, of course, the wrong game entirely.

  63. Lance says:

    @Caroline — Yes, it sure does… Love…is pretty awesome!

    @Jason — Hey Jason. Yep, we cre­ate that list, the list that never ends…and then start whit­tling away at it. Some­times I find myself there. Where’s that get­ting us? Are we really get­ting any closer to that deeper part of us? Not really.… Great thought!

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