You Only Live Once, so the mantra goes. On the surface this may seem to be absolutely true, sort of. Depending on your worldview.  But a quick look behind the veil and a completely different reality may come into focus. It all depends on ones perception. Take the following headline as an example:

You only live once vs living for the future: Striking a balance

How Does the Truth of YOLO Impact Your Lifestyle and Mindset? asks the writer, then goes on to say:

I’m not usually very good at thinking of quick retorts (or should I say re-tortes) but I replied: ‘oh yeah I know, in fact I treat myself often, but I do it intentionally with stuff I want rather than opportunistically with stuff that is there.’ 

I had developed a new mindset unconsciously. In my weight loss I haven’t dieted or ‘punished’ myself. I’ve just become focused on what matters and intentional about my relationship with my body and the stuff I put in it.

Die-alogue Cafe: That’s one approach from a human centred and material perspective.

What if we came at this from a different angle? One of nature, one of living within a community, one of thinking of life as being a continuum – from one generation to another. One of being part of a larger whole of the earth community as a living, breathing organism as contained in the GAIA concept by Norman Myers. Taking this idea further, of being an earthling, as Germaine Greer has described herself in her latter years.

How does this change the somewhat self-centred approach of it’s all about me getting as much as I can out of this one time earthly visit, to being one of a community of beings, of which humans are but one very small part?

Thoughts to ponder, as we prepare for our end-of-lives.