Don't Die With Your Music In You

I love the saying – "Don't die with your music still in you," I first heard this saying from Wayne Dyer in the movie, Ambition to Meaning. 

It's a great movie with a great message.  If you like Wayne Dyer you will surely love it!

This saying resonates within me, motivates me to keep going and to not give up – even when I feel as if I don't know what the next step is or how to even make that step forward. 

I am a person of perseverance, I am a person of personal growth and I'm a sponge for learning.

However, I have experienced negative self talk grab ahold of my fears or doubts and played them back when I least expected it. These pertained to my desire to make a bigger difference in the world and to offer something valuable to others.  

Have you experienced any of these doubts about yourself or your  dreams?

• This is too hard
  
• I don't have what it takes to do this
  
• I cannot do it alone
  
• I wasted too much time and missed my opportunity
  
• I should have done more when I was younger 
  
• I should of made more progress by now
  
• I don't have what it takes to do this
• This is too hard for me
• I'm not sure that I have what it really takes to help others

I eventually figured out that it is my own, unique experience that I can learn from, as well as, teach others best from that perspective.

I also learned that life will feel as if it is going by fast if we don't relish in it now.  I didn't always do that.  For a time I was just going thru the motions.  Then there was a time that I was trying to do more than was possible because I thought if I worked really hard now, all the joy will come later. In fact, some business leaders even told me that too and I believed them.

Well, my truth now is – not that the advice I was given was wrong – but now I understand it better and I have to learn in my own way, have my own experiences which give me that unique perspective that another may or may not have. 

I enjoying pushing myself to learn new skills in business, relationships, communication and as an entrepreneur AND I also know now  – that the presence of joy is soooo powerfully important in the creations and outcomes.  The joy doesn't come later it must be in the everyday -  somewhere, somehow – and certainly in work.  Otherwise, I would crash and burn and feel as if I am going backwards in life instead of forward. 

Know what I mean?

The other day I saw a posting on Facebook, called Cranky Old Man, with a picture of a very old man in a hospital bed with a beautiful baby lying next to him.

Did you see it? Apparently the poem has been around for a while but this was the first time I it.  It was stated to be a poem the old man wrote before he died and it offers huge life inspiration.  

When the old man died in the geriatric ward of a nursing home in an Australian country town, it was believed that he had nothing left of any value.

Later, when the nurses were going through his meager possessions, They found this poem. Its quality and content so impressed the staff that copies were made and distributed to every nurse in the hospital.  The old man's sole bequest to posterity has since appeared in the Christmas editions of magazines around the country and appearing in mags for Mental Health. A slide presentation has also been made based on his simple, but eloquent, poem.

 And this old man, with supposedly nothing left to give to the world, is now the author of this 'anonymous' poem and giving the world very wise words of LIFE WISDOM!  Here it is: 

Cranky Old Man
What do you see nurses? . . … .What do you see?
    What are you thinking……….. when you're looking at me?     

A cranky old man………..not very wise,

  uncertain of habit .. . . . . . . .. …with faraway eyes?
Who dribbles his food .. . … . . ..and makes no reply.
When you say in a loud voice .. .'I do wish you'd try!'
Who seems not to notice . . ……the things that you do.
And forever is losing . . . . . .. .. A sock or shoe?
Who, resisting or not . . . … …..lets you do as you will,
With bathing and feeding . . . …the long day to fill?
Is that what you're thinking?. …Is that what you see?
Then open your eyes, nurse …..you're not looking at me!

I'll tell you who I am . . . . .. …….As I sit here so still,
As I do at your bidding, .. . . …..as I eat at your will. 

I'm a small child of Ten …….. …with a father and mother,
Brothers and sisters .. . . ……. who love one another.

A young boy of Sixteen . . . . .. with wings on his feet
Dreaming that soon now . . .. ..a lover he'll meet.
A groom soon at Twenty . . . …my heart gives a leap.
Remembering, the vows .. .. …that I promised to keep.
At Twenty-Five, now . . . . …….I have young of my own.
Who need me to guide . . . …. And a secure happy home.
A man of Thirty . .. . . . . …….. My young now grown fast,
Bound to each other . . .. …… With ties that should last.
At Forty, my sons ………… …..have grown and are gone,
But my wife is beside me …. . to see I don't mourn.
At Fifty, once more, ……………Babies play 'round my knee,
Again, we know children . . …..my loved one and me.

Dark days are upon me . …….my wife is now dead.
I look at the future … . . .

. ….I shudder with dread.
My young are all rearing ….. …young ones of their own.
And I think of the years . .. . ..And the love that I've known.

I'm now an old man . . . . . . …and nature is cruel.
It's jest to make old age . . . ..look like a fool.
The body, it crumbles .. .. .  ..grace and vigor, depart.
There is now a stone . . ….. ..where I once had a heart.
But inside this old carcass .. ..A young man still dwells,
And now and again . . . .. ……my battered heart swells
I remember the joys . . . . … ..I remember the pain.

And I'm loving and living ……..life over again.
I think of the years, all too few . . .. gone too fast.
And accept the stark fact . . . that nothing can last.
So open your eyes, people .. open and see.
Not a cranky old man .
Look closer . . . . see .. .. . .. ME!!

Profound huh?  Yes, we can take much or dare I say MUST  take from  this poem.  I later heard this was not a poem from a real old man on his death bed but from an actual writer and somehow made up the story of the and it took off from there.  But nonetheless, the message is just a powerful.

Pursue your dreams – never let your false fears or anyone else's stop you.

Seize, relish, celebrate, be present -  in the precious moments of life and most importantly connect with others – SEE them, HEAR them, TALK TO them!

Everyone one of us has ALL of these desires in us and we can have, be and do all of them!

Baby, don't die with your music still in you! 

Dream on, love on it, bliss out and rock it!