When I watch the children’s talent shows, I am often left baffled when the young one’s, probably as young as five and six years-old, claim on stage, “My whole life I have wanted to be a singer.” Or then a seven-year-old stating matter-of-factly, “Since my childhood I have wanted to be a dancer.”

They are children still living through their childhood, and yet they consider their as a whole, and their past as their childhood. 

I adore them for their talent, yet I feel the mounting pressure on them to perform, for whatever the reason maybe, takes them away from their actual childhood. Their innocence is intact, however their eyes reflect maturity. They are aware of their present moment, which is backed by a lifetime, thought short, which is passing them by.

It is not only these children who talk about wanting to do something their entire life. I say it too, many-a-times. “My whole life I have wanted to learn dancing.” “My entire life I have wanted to learn a foreign language.” “My whole life I have wanted to get down to making writing my profession.” The reality is that every day gone by, becomes a brick in the whole life we have lived till this moment.

I know there are challenges, deadlines, pressure, stress, and so we turn our back to what we have always wanted to do our “whole life.”

Well, if the my first period in my life brought me to womanhood (obviously, at almost 12, mature girlhood was the expectation), and I grew and bloomed with each passing menstrual cycle; then the phase the begins the end of the menstrual cycle to me is all about fulfilling those lost dreams and aspirations.

While I really don’t have responsibilities such as the children to tend to, the forties is when most Mommies experience a void since their responsibility for their child or children begin to diminish. The children are growing up, and the Mommy is actually entering her next innings. So, Mommy Dear, its time to make your bucket list and start ticking them of, with or without the support of others. It’s time that you value the bricks that still needs to be fit into your whole lifetime wall.

Listen to your hormones, they are demanding something from you. They want your respectful attention as they nudge you towards your forgotten-unfulfilled dreams and aspirations. The more you battle the storm within, the more turbulent your emotions are going to become, the more the frustrations, and all of this definitely takes a toll on the body.

Get out of the pattern of ignoring what you truly wish to do, or achieve, or for that matter you do not want to do. It’s time you recognise what you need for yourself, rather than what everyone wants or needs from you. This is your whole life time going by. Pick up the pieces, and fix them into a beautiful piece of art, painted with memories that you weave for you first, and all others shall follow suit.

You will want to do this for yourself when you realise that till this moment, you have already lived your whole life. The life that has brought you till here. This moment is an offering, to you to build further on your whole life. An entire life is not the age of passing over; but a composition of every day gone into the pile of yesterdays.

A new born baby that passes over within a few breaths has lived his or her whole life in those few breaths. Every child not crossing their childhood years to depart from their body has lived their whole life. The entire lifespan is not about the duration and stages one crosses; it is all about living your life, the way you choose to – working towards manifesting your intentions, facing challenges head on, extending yourself to be a better person this day.

Life is the journey with no destination; but many stations, where you alight and explore, experience. 

If there is turbulence in your life, it is only because you are not existing according to the rhythm of your being. If we are born as infants and have to travel through childhood, those years cannot be counted as irrelevant. Those are foundational years that weave into the being the soul’s several callings.

You are not this body, but the soul wearing the cloak of the body. The soul functions the body. The soul breathes through the body. The soul experiences the human journey with this body.

Yes, there is a challenge. The challenge is that on this journey the soul has three friends, or should I claim foes – the mind, the intellect, the ego. The mind as a friend enjoys confusions and conflicts; the intellect believes it rises in stature because of its judgements, biases and prejudices; and the ego believes in its individuality, superiority, inferiority and discriminative stature. These three companions of the soul actually diminishes the presence of the soul.

And while journeying in this body, you believe the mind, intellect and ego to be you; and flecks of soul awareness to be divine. The soul is simple. The soul in innocent. The soul is you.

Respect this journey, and allow your soul to rise and bring to awareness all that you are here to experience.

Achievement is the reward or the award the pleases the three companions. However, their greed for more recognition diminishes the exuberance of your being. It does not matter what you achieve, nor does not achieving anything matter to The Universe.

What truly matters is what you do with the whole life gifted to you. You cannot do anything about the whole life time lived till this moment; but you surely can respect the whole life time you have.

Regretting the past is a waste of time, effort and money. Celebrating the past is an investment to make each day a day of fulfilment.

My life has gone by till this date, for better or for worst, it matters not. My life is fleeting by, even as I type this chapter. I cannot hold onto anything of this moment. It is all going past, into the whole life till this moment. It fills me the with immense graceful gratitude that calms the storms within.

This moment is filled with graceful gratitude when you can drop judging the whole life time gone by, and instead just sit back and thank every person, every situation that has contributed to making the life time gone by whole and complete. 

Yes, it is whole and complete; because even if you think it to be full of holes and incompletions there is nothing that you can really do. You cannot go back into any past situation or moment, and complete it or fill in the holes. All that has been, has been in accordance to the way it has had to be.

In hindsight the whole life time gone by has scope for improvements and completions. But that is where it remains – in hindsight. The actual power of hindsight is to function as a reminder, so that you pave a more appropriate path through each moment. It is a reminder, and not a space to dwell in, inviting regret and guilt. We misuse the gift of hindsight by sitting there as an unwanted guest and take along with us regret and guilt.

Do we gain anything from this get together? Sure we do! We gain wasted time, un-health in the body, emotional turbulence, and so on and so forth.

Well, I know one thing for sure; I respect my whole life time I have lived till this moment; and this moment to the next, till every moment I am to live till the cloak drops is going to be lived mindfully, soulfully and in awareness of what those hormonal nudges, so as to gladly be of use first to myself, and then to all. 

For, if I am useful to myself, I am definitely useful for all!