Celebrate Life!

Today I would like to take a minute and write about my mother. She passed away August 31st, 2006. She was healthy, happy and full of life! She was one of those rare people that can always find the positive in any situation.

Her passing was completely unexpected. She was gone from one moment to the next, just as she had always hoped it would happen. She was kind, compassionate, and helpful. She loved to cook and made the best meals she could, even when we were so poor we only had bread..she found a way to make it "new" every day..... She was an awsome mother, a wonderful grandmother, and an all around great person. Even after she retired from her business, she couldn't sit still and started volunteer work with the mentally retarded. She even received an award from the President of Austria for her work with the mentally challenged people!

I was shocked when I got the news that she was gone. It was hard to swallow. It was hard to digest the fact that this person, so bursting with gusto for life, was now gone. But Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim really helped me get through this. Yes, of course I had my family to fall back on and we encouraged each other, but sometimes it is very helpful to have someone that is not directly involved with the pain that goes along with this sort of thing. I resorted to reading her book, "The Silent Master" and found a much needed peace of mind and heart.

"We do not have the feeling from day to day that eventually we are going to die, or that our time here is limited. We don't live from moment to moment with the awareness that we could die at anytime. Even if we ask a question like, "Am I were I want to be?" its all too easy to reply "Well, I'll get there some day," and drop the matter right there. We tend to put off the fulfillment of our real goals to "when I retire," or, "when the kids are out of the house," or "when I have time."

"Someday" is never going to come. The only time there is, is now. When "someday" comes, it will be now. So what you think and do right now is what will happen on the mythical "someday."

Unfortunately, death seems to mysterious, baffling, horrible, and final that we don't want to consider it in our daily lives. But we must have the courage to look squarely at the limited time frame death gives us, and act accordingly. You don't know when death will come. The "someday" you wait for may never come, simply because you won't be here to experience it!

Of course, in reality what is really you will never die. Your Silent Master consciousness is eternal; only your manifestations - including your present body and life - come and go from your consciousness. So we're talking now about the death of your physical manifestation, and not of your eternal true self.

I am at peace. I know my mom is too.