Embrace the Present: The Meaning of 'While We Wait for Life, Life Passes'
We often spend too much time waiting for that perfect moment, waiting until we feel ready—until conditions seem ideal or until we reach some distant goal. But in doing so, we're letting life slip by moment by moment.
It's a call to stop postponing our happiness and start living fully right now because life won’t wait while we do.
Happiness is achieved when you stop waiting for it and make the most of the moment you are in now.
Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans. ~Dimple
The Underlying Message
The phrase "while we wait for life, life passes" carries an underlying message to appreciate and live in the present as time is fleeting and life continues to unfold regardless of our readiness or expectations. It encourages mindfulness and the idea that life should be lived actively rather than passively waiting for changes or opportunities.
The Nature of Life
We often think something phenomenal should happen in our lives and start striving for it to meet our imagination. However, the reality is that the most wonderful things are happening around us but we are not perceiving them at the moment. We, as humans, often expect joy from material things, but the real joy is within us.
The Contrast Between Delayed and Real Life
The life we wait for: This is the life presented to us on a silver platter, passive and often wastes a lot of your time.
Your life: Started when you were born and will end when you die. How you spend the time in between goes back to the first "life" mentioned here.
The second life is more active and involves making choices and living life, unlike the first which is passive and based on waiting for something to happen.
Egoic Preconceived Ideas
We have egoic pre-conceived ideas of what "my life" should look like. Consequently, we spend our time striving or waiting for the right job, the perfect partner, the ideal car, or someone's respect.
We fool ourselves into thinking that when we achieve certain milestones—such as being thin, having a degree, or retiring—we will enjoy life. In reality, we only have now. While we are waiting, life is happening all around us, through us, but because it doesn't look the way we want it to, we ignore it. We treat it like an annoying insect that is disturbing us while we wait for "life" to happen.
The Consequences of Delay
And then, unexpectedly, life throws us curveballs. We might walk in front of a car, get cancer, get shot, have a fried bat, or in any countless ways, miss out on living. While we've been alive, we've never truly lived. We've never appreciated and enjoyed this body, this job, this partner, this life.
Embracing the Present
To live fully, we must embrace the present moment. Mindfulness and living in the here and now are essential. It's about making the most of each day, each breath, and every experience. Life is precious, fleeting, and should be lived with intention and passion.
Happiness is now. Live fully and live mindfully.