by MEGS S. LUNN
Do you live life to the fullest? Do you love life because you exist with good things in life? Or do you hate life because you exist with too much problems? How do you live life and love life?
The question of distinguishing what we are and are not responsible for in this life is one of the continuing challenges of human existence. In every choice that we made, it is one that we must make thousands upon thousands of times, it is never completely resolved at all times.
For one, saying NO is one of the hardest things to do. But by saying "NO", you are setting up boundaries about yourself and about the things you should and shouldn’t do.
One of my mentors once told me that when service to community is called for, I am the kind of a person who needs to learn to say NO. Indeed, in many instances already, when I followed his advice, it was the most wonderful submission to the choice of responsibility I have ever done. In one organization that I belong with, there is this saying "we don’t accept NO for an answer" and we are talking here about service to the community. Again, it is the most wonderful feeling, because, by saying "NO" to more things you have the time, energy, and resources to get really good at the things you want to say "YES" to. Once , they branded me as the "giver", "fixer" and "doer". Now, by saying "NO", I have allowed others to step up to the plate and find their power. One of my spiritual advisers agreed, "It is the most mature thing to do."
On the other hand, discipline is the means for solving life’s problems. And all discipline according to the book, The Road Less Traveled, is a form of submission. The discipline to discern what we are or are not responsible for is most crucial, since we must go through the existential suffering of choosing when and what to submit to and what not to submit to, whether that is our own ego, love, God or even the forces of evil.
We also hear people complain about how hard life is. People, who complain about life, don’t create an empowered life, or feel like victims are often those who find it very difficult to say "NO" and define boundaries. We also learned from our mistakes and that we consider our everyday life a learning opportunity to continue to live a life of distinguishing what we are and are not responsible for in this life. Yet, we still continue to question our existence. Service to community is something that we can’t say NO to. However, those who can only afford to say YES are those who have the spirit of volunteerism, not because they can do, but because they are blessed. There is a time to reap and a time to give back. These are the people who find pleasure after a regular job in the office that they find happiness to do more beyond their call of duty. We actually call it social responsibility or corporate responsibility to those who lives in a corporate world. These and more are manifestations of our submission to responsibility and choices of life.
How many times over you asked yourself, what I am here for? In the book, Purpose Driven Life, we actually exist because we have mission in life. That mission is for you to realize that everything in life is borrowed and that we are only given the chance to work out ourselves in this world to be an asset and not a liability.
I believe that it is thru life’s problem that we see the worth of ourselves and that thru life’s struggle we learn a great deal of lessons. We also need problem in order to function well. The question is, are you ready to face them? (By the way, we call PROBLEM now as CONCERN, it is lighter to hear it this way.)
We hope that in the things that we face everyday, we will eventually learn to live life and love life. /MP
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