Life is not about dying everyday, it is about living everyday before death puts an end to it.
As the professor of Philosophy entered the university’s lecture hall. He looked at his students and asked a question:
“If, for some reason, you were sentenced for life and you knew that you would live the rest of your life in prison, what would you do?”
The entire room filled with a dooming silence. After a few minutes of thought, some students replied:
” I would kill myself after a few days of wait. I would never want to live such a life.” one student replied and the rest followed.
The professor asked in return, “Can you tell me why you would commit suicide?”
“Of course”, the student replied, “Without my family, my friends, my pet, my hobbies and my usual way of life, I would never be able to live.”
“Do you agree?”, the professor asked the rest of the students. And the majority of them seemed to agree with this view.
The professor seemed to be happy with the class’s answer.
“Now let’s do a simple exercise. You will do exactly as I’ll tell you. Close your eyes, take a deep breath and wait until I tell you to exhale it”.
The students closed their eyes, took a deep breath and waited.
However, the professor was telling them what to do, so the students started feeling uncomfortable for holding their breath for so long. All of them started opening their eyes and exhaling deeply while looking at their professor, surprised.
Then, the professor asked the student who had spoken before: “While you were waiting for me to tell you to exhale, did you think about your family, friends, dog, or your hobbies?” “No”, replied the student. “I was only wondering when I can take the next breath.”
Then the professor said, ” You see, it’s easy for us to believe that our life is all about our family, hobbies, pet an friends. However, our life is more than just all these.”
Life is an internal process and this is an end in itself. Life doesn’t depend on our external environment but external factors definitely changes our view of life. When you find things difficult on the outside, you will begin to think that your life has no meaning. What you should do then is take a deep breath and hold it for as long as you can. This way you will remind yourselves of what life is truly worth. You will remember that it’s worth the fighting and you’ll know how to do your best in every situation.
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