People who suffer a near-death experience are nearly always renewed in their zest for life.
Why is it that we nearly have to die to fully appreciate and make the most out of the time we have while alive?
I don’t know about you, but while I was growing up, I was taught to follow the rules, to behave respectfully, to eat everything on my plate, and to study hard at school to achieve good grades so that I would be set up for a better life in the future.
While young, I don’t recall any discussions on the profoundness of life. And now, talking with friends, I have found that most of them were also not involved in any discussions, or taught about basic subjects like “What is life?”, “Why are we here?” or “What is the best way to spend the time we are gifted with?” I now know that this is because our parents didn’t know the answers, and more than likely had never spent much time even contemplating these questions.
These questions are ancient, and wise people throughout history have tried to answer them as best they can. They have shared many ideas about the meaning and purpose of life, however, maybe the answers are not so important? Maybe the answers are not universal, or cannot be expressed in any meaningful way with words. So our time may be better spent thinking about things that we have more control over.
What we do know for sure, is that if you are reading this that you are still alive and it’s probable that you will be alive for ‘a while longer.’ Just how much longer, none of us can know for sure, so the best idea, and the most logical one, is to live the rest of our precious ‘alive’ moments in the best possible way… To achieve this, we could focus our time and energies on living in a way that makes us grateful, fills us with appreciation, love, and joy, for this experience that is our life.
Who knows, this may be the only shot we get at being a human being on planet earth- ever….. Or maybe not. However, because it is the only experience we have a conscious memory of, to bring meaning to our lives, we should do our best to LIVE DELIBERATELY, WITH PURPOSE, and strive to have a truly wonderful experience for as much of the time as possible!
So, the question begs to be asked, “If we knew that our time would very soon be over, what would we change about the way we are living our life now to gain the best possible value out of the time we have remaining?”
This collection of “Life is too short” quotes may give you a few things to think about. I hope you enjoy them and can use some of them to reflect upon how you are currently living your life. And maybe, some of these thoughts will inspire you to use your remaining time to do more of the things that bring you love, joy, and happiness….
Life is too short to worry
“There comes a time in your life when you have to let go of all the pointless drama and the people who create it and surround yourself with people who make you laugh so hard that you forget the bad and focus solely on the good. After all, life is too short to be anything but happy.” Karl Marx
“Life is way too short to continue thinking you’re not worthy or good enough. Regardless of what others have told you, you are enough and are worthy of love and belonging.” Kevin Ngo
“Life is too short to spend your precious time trying to convince a person who wants to live in gloom and doom otherwise. Give lifting that person your best shot, but don’t hang around long enough for his or her bad attitude to pull you down. Instead, surround yourself with optimistic people.” Zig Ziglar
Our life can either be enhanced or destroyed by the people we choose to associate with. Their habits, state of mind, and opinions affect us for better or worse. If people are tearing us down, don’t appreciate us, or generally pessimistic, it tells us about their life. It doesn’t tell us about us. What does tell us about us, is who we choose to hang out with! Why would we choose to be in the company of people whose very presence brings us down?
Happiness is a choice, and we can choose to be happy by being selective in our thoughts, friends, and actions. How are you choosing to feel on a daily basis?
Life is too short to wait
“Life is too short to be little. Man is never so manly as when he feels deeply, acts boldly, and expresses himself with frankness and with fervor.” Benjamin Disraeli
“Life is too short for us to keep important words, for example, I love you, locked in our hearts.” Paulo Coelho
“If you wait, all that happens is that you get older.” Larry McMurtry
Life is too short to live for other people
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma ― which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” Steve Jobs
“Embrace your uniqueness. Time is much too short to be living someone else’s life.” Kobi Yamada
Nearly everyone we know will have an opinion about what we should have done, and what we should be doing now. So what! They don’t truly know us and their opinions are only based on what they know and understand about life and the world.
We should mind our own business and not be concerned with what other people think because they all want to reduce us to something that they can understand and relate to. People are often threatened by what they don’t yet know, and if we step outside of what they know, they feel unsettled and even threatened. However, it is not our job to live our lives so that other people will feel safe and un-threatened. Our mission should be centered on us having the best life experience that is humanly possible….. for our own sake…… just for the hell of it!
Life is too short to waste
“Live as you will wish to have lived when you are dying.” Christian Geller
“Life is too short to just go through the motions.” Philip Rivers
“Life is short, break the rules, forgive quickly, kiss slowly, love truly, laugh uncontrollably, and never regret anything that makes you smile.” Mark Twain
“Life is too short to spend it being angry, bored, or dull.” Barbara Johnson
“Men talk of killing time, but time quietly kills them.” Dion Boucicault
“Life is not lost by dying; life is lost minute by minute, day by dragging day, in all the thousand small uncaring ways.” Stephen Vincent Benét
The more fun we are having, the quicker time flies. As Einstein said: “When you sit with a nice girl for two hours you think it’s only a minute. But when you sit on a hot stove for a minute you think it’s two hours. That’s relativity.”
Life is too short to hold grudges
“What I tell young couples that are getting married is: you’re going to have quarrels, and on some things, you’re just going to have to agree to disagree. And when you go to bed at night, kiss each other and tell each other that you love each other. Don’t go to bed mad. Life is too short. Keep it simple.“ Si Robertson
I remember many years ago when I would be angry and I actually wanted to hold on to the feeling of anger. Now, for the life of me, I cannot imagine what I was thinking….. why do we choose to remain in negative states when the reality is that no one wins! I was the one who lost the most, and I also caused those that I loved to suffer….. that’s not love! I look back now and think that it’s insanity….. I am so grateful that I have learned to become emotionally intelligent so that my health, and the health of all those around me, are enhanced by my presence. Such a wonderful feeling!
Life is too short to wake up with regrets
“Life is too short to wake up with regrets. So love the people who treat you right. Forget about those who don’t. Believe everything happens for a reason. If you get a chance, take it. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said life would be easy, they just promised it would most likely be worth it.” Harvey MacKay
“No regrets … just lessons. No worries … just acceptance. No expectations … just gratitude. Life is too short.” Jesse Joseph
“Life is too short to start your day with broken pieces of yesterday, it will definitely destroy your wonderful today and ruin your great tomorrow!” Author unknown
If you didn’t do something and you regret it, ok, you didn’t do it. If you did something and you regret it, ok, it’s done. Regrets are all about living in the past and rehashing stuff over and over again, that we cannot change, serves no beneficial purpose at all. So, just accept what has happened, get over it, and move on.
We benefit enormously when we focus on the vast power of our minds in this present moment because this is the only moment we will ever have where we can effectively change our lives. Why not choose now, to change your life for the better by releasing all previous regrets and turn your attention to creating a better future for yourself.
Life is too short to be serious
“I believe that if you don’t derive a deep sense of purpose from what you do, if you don’t come radiantly alive several times a day, if you don’t feel deeply grateful at the tremendous good fortune that has been bestowed on you, then you are wasting your life. And life is too short to waste.” Srikumar Rao
“Life is too short to be in boring company.” Andrew Mason
“Do what you love to do and give it your very best. Whether it’s business or baseball, or the theater, or any field. If you don’t love what you’re doing and you can’t give it your best, get out of it. Life is too short. You’ll be an old man before you know it.” Al Lopez
I know many of us have obligations, commitments, schedules, etc. that require our attention, and often they may not be fun. However, we do get to choose how we feel when we are completing these tasks. If we can focus our minds on positive thoughts we will have a better experience than if we were begrudgingly fulfilling our obligations.
Our attitude is of optimum importance because life is too short to waste an opportunity to feel happiness, to laugh, to apologize, to love, to forgive, and to take risks.
We should, whenever possible, spend quality time with people who uplift us, not those who bring us down, and endeavor to live in this present moment and enjoy it for all it has to offer. The past has gone, learn well the lessons it taught, get over it, and get on with living now. Don’t put off until tomorrow the things you want to do today…. Live to have no regrets! And, NEVER, EVER, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, TAKE YOURSELF TOO SERIOUSLY!
“Live every day as if it were going to be your last; for one day you’re sure to be right.” Harry Morant
“Enjoy yourself. It’s later than you think.” Chinese Proverb
Shared with love and respect for all souls playing the game of life. May your journey be as long and as enjoyable as you wish it to be.
Andrew
Hey Andrew,
Awesome as always.
Mark Twain’s quote, “Life is short, break the rules, forgive quickly, kiss slowly, love truly, laugh uncontrollably, and never regret anything that makes you smile.” is one that I have heard, read, and tried to adhere to throughout my life.
There’s something very genuine and humble about Mark’s words and just following through on what seems to be a simple statement can actually lead to a fantastically, happy life.
I’ve actually heard a “slightly ruder” version of the Harry Morant quote, and I hope it’s not too risque for your readers, but it does make me giggle everytime I think of it.
“Live each day as if it were your last, but wear a concom and pay your bills just in case it isn’t.” LOL, sorry I couldn’t resist.
I truly believe you’ve hit on something special here as well. We may not realise it, but a lot of the time many of us allow insignificant things to control us.
We carry the worries of the world on our shoulders, the slightest thing can upset us, if things don’t go the way we imagined we may throw a massive hissy-fit, but at the end of day, as you’ve quite rightly said, “Life is too short” to worry about these things.
I love your idea about choosing how we feel when performing perhaps mundane, everyday tasks as well.
I’ve come to realise more-and-more, it’s not so much that I don’t enjoy doing certain things, but my mind has already made the decision to hate it for me.
I guess it’s completely down to us how we feel and how we react to things.
I loved this Andrew and I’m not going to lie, I actually felt uplifted reading many of the quotes – they have a funny way of doing that, don’t they?
Partha
Haha! I like your version of the Morant quote. Nothing rude about it, the guy’s just being realistic and optimistic 🙂
I know you are right when you say that ‘many of us allow insignificant things to control us.’ And I think you have hit the nail on the head by saying that it is our mind that has already made the decisions for us. I know I have been guilty of this in the past.
That’s one of the reasons, at every possible opportunity in my posts, I say “we need to become more conscious of what we are thinking, what we are saying, and how we are acting and reacting, more of the time!”
Who ever said life should to go ‘our way’ all the time and who designated us as the one to carry the weight of the world on our shoulders? I don’t ever remember anyone designating so much responsibility to me when I was born, or anytime after! The sooner we realize that we are not responsible for everything, the sooner we can begin to relax and enjoy the short time we have.
It’s not anyone else’s job to make us happy or to give us everything we want…… This is our job, this is why we are here, to learn about what we want and then to go after it….. just for the fun, enjoyment, excitement, and experience of it….. to enjoy the process of evolution from having and knowing nothing at birth, to, hopefully, creating an awesome life experience for ourselves before we pass away, wiser, satisfied, fulfilled, and ecstatic that we have had this opportunity to experience life in an awesome body, with an awesome (potential-filled) mind, on this incredible planet….. with lots of other souls doing the same thing!
What is there not to be happy about?
As many wise people have already mentioned, ‘Life is too short to……’
Many thanks for sharing. I’m happy that your day was uplifted by reading these words,
Have a great day, everyday mate,
Andrew
Your article made me think and I feel that we have a created a society that is focused on putting us in a box and not allowing us to live our lives fully. One of the most important lessons in life is to find out who you truly are. I believe that many do not find that …
Your paragraph about spending time in anger and how you got out of it made me remember my ex-boyfriend. I left him because of his rage which he cannot control. When I get angry, it’s over in a few minutes and I move on, but when he feels anger he stays angry for months on end, and I told him that his anger controls him and he needs help, but well, there is just so much you can do … I walked away from it
I think that many people never truly live their lives. Although I – like everybody else – have to go through the daily motions of a job and paying some bills and all that, I always stop to appreciate things, to enjoy the moment, and to show gratitude. It took me years to learn that and it is an ongoing process, but I am grateful to have learned it. It makes all the difference.
Hi Christine.
Wow, being angry for months on end…… that’s really hard word. It takes a lot of energy to remain in a negative place like this and it definitely takes its toll on our body, mind, and spirit! Good on you for getting out of there. Life is too short to be around someone who is not willing to enjoy it.
You are right that ‘many people never truly live their lives.’ They are in effect ‘being lived by life!’ These are the people who are constantly reacting to stuff from the environment without any conscious awareness of the effects their thoughts, words, and actions are having on themselves and others. It’s a hard way to live, because what we end up thinking and feeling is always in relation to the stuff that is happening outside of ourselves, and we, therefore, are not in control of our own lives but are at the mercy of others.
Yes, we all have stuff that needs to be done that we would rather not do, but in order to do the things we really want to do, we must also do some of this other stuff first, like going to work and paying the bills. Your attitude of appreciation and gratitude is really the only reasonable response to this situation or any situation. Because once we realize that how we think and feel affects our health and wellbeing, wouldn’t we always choose to think the best thoughts that make us feel good all the time?
It is a process, as you say, a process of developing awareness of how intimately our body, mind, and soul are connected and affected by each other. Life is a journey, and it’s the learning along the way that makes it fun 🙂
Have a great day
Andrew
Well, as they say, tomorrow never comes! It’s also true that we don’t know what will be happening to us on a day-by-day basis. I for one could never have imagined that much of the world would go into a second lockdown because of a virus! And yet, because of this, so many lives have been dramatically changed. So, the lesson here is, if there is something we want to do, do it now because we never know if we will ever have another opportunity.
I wish you all the best 🙂
Andrew