"I'm afraid I have bad news." The moment that you or someone close to you hears these words, your life changes permanently. Gone is the illusion of immortality. Gone are your feelings of safety and invulnerability. In that moment you realize that life is finite and does not go on forever. Suddenly you are living on the edge, day-by-day. All of the things that until now had seemed so important are now insignificant. Job success, financial gain, slights by friends or conflicts with family members now seem petty and trivial as you begin the fight to stay alive. Fear becomes a constant visitor. A black cloud that never completely goes away hovers overhead. Isn't it remarkable that it takes a jolt like that to so drastically change the perspective on our lives? We think less about past disappointments or goals for the future. We hope and live day-by-day. We wonder how we could have gotten so caught up in the minutia of our daily lives that we forgot to slow down and smell the roses.

Maybe this journey thankfully is not yours, but one that you witnessed someone else going through. Maybe you were fortunate enough to get good news. How much will that near miss change the way that you live your life? How quickly will you forget and return to the old life style? Or, will you hear it as a wake-up call and have the courage to focus on what is truly important to you? You don't have to wait for the shock of terminal illness, or the sadness of watching someone that you care about waste away to take better care of yourself and live a fuller more meaningful life. The time is now!