Tuesday, May 11, 2010

The Unexamined Life...

"The unexamined life is not worth living." --Socrates

What is an 'unexamined life'? I think it means that day-to-day, routinely repeating pattern of our lives: sleep, eat, work, eat, work, eat, sleep...repeat. All to often, we get caught up in our hectic lives that we fail to STOP and THINK. When we're young, all our choices are made for us.We're told what to wear, to eat, to learn, and to do. We get in that pattern of doing what we're told and never thinking for ourselves. When we're older, we make many more choices, yet we make these choices from a limited selection of options that our environment, our friends, our families, our employers, our teachers, or simply our habits present to us. Rarely, if ever, do we stop to reflect on what we truly want in life, on who we are and what we want to become, on what difference we want to make in the world, or on what is really right for us.

The price we pay for living an unexamined life, is precisely that, our lives. The real cost is the investment of all our energies in a direction thats not of our own choosing! Cervantes said, "Make it they business to know thyself, which is the most difficult lesson in the world."

Let us each live a life worth living. Take a moment each day to ponder about YOU. Think of what you want, what you want to become, what is really right for you. If you think you're too busy or the cost is too great, think of the real cost your paying--your entire life. After all, "The unexamined life is not worth living."

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