My darlings, what would you do if you were given only weeks to live?

Would you spend every moment locked in despair, or – would you step fully into the remaining life that you had?

It’s an interesting question, and one raised in a beautiful posting by the venerable Thích Nhất Hạnh; one which begs our awareness within every single moment.

“Don’t wait to start living. Live Now!” he urges. “You can live each moment deeply, in touch with the very wonders of life.”

And so, with each ‘living moment’, I strive to live deeply. Why, even something as simple as an early morning walk can become suddenly filled with opportunity – to see, to touch, to experience, to breathe in the full richness of this life.

Awareness, my darlings, must always be our practice, and living deeply – our fundamental purpose.

In his novel, The Stranger, Albert Camus shares the story of Mersault – a ‘detached and soulless’ man who has just learned that he shall soon be executed for the crimes he has committed.

In his despair, he collapses to his prison bed, and – looking upwards – for the first time notices a single patch of blue light; a square of blue sky peeking through the skylight.

“The sky is so blue,” shares Brother Thay. “it’s the first time in his life he’s gotten deeply in touch with the blue sky. He has already lived for five decades without ever really seeing the blue sky. Perhaps he has looked at the sky from time to time, but he not seen it in a deep way. Now, three days before his death, he is able to touch the blue sky in a very deep way.”

Ironically, in the end it is Mersault’s realization (and acceptance) of his own impermanence, which offers him the greatest freedom he has ever known.

For, through this single patch of blue – he has, for the first time, come alive.

Life is pure joy, my dearest darlings. And, within each precious moment there exists a ‘patch of blue sky’…simply waiting for our senses to reply.

That we might one day know the greatest blessings of this life.