What Is Your Immortal Gift to the World?

Sonia Sharma

It is a fact that each of us that has ever been born lives for a set period of time and dies. Physical death is as certain as physical birth. However, what is perplexing is that many of us (including me) seem to live our lives assuming or behaving in a way that assumes that we will live forever. No one knows--perhaps some part of us may live on--but it seems that once physical death happens, the physical human form is transformed into other parts of nature and that person is no longer physically present as we knew him/her.

While some might find it depressing, irrelevant or unpleasant to talk about death, my goal in mentioning physical death is solely to illuminate the tremendous importance of the life and limited time we realistically have prior to death. When something is limited (such as our life) and inevitable (such as death), it makes sense to at least pay attention to it or act in a manner that takes its inevitability and limited nature into account.

My purpose in even broaching the subject of death is to highlight the urgency of living life that seems to go unnoticed. We tend to become so busy in our preset routines or everyday concerns and worries that there seems to be an illusion that things will always be the same, that we will always be living, that we will always have time or tomorrow. However, as we all know from the experience of losing a loved one, that is not true. Death is not something that happens only to other people.

Realistically then, how can we live in a way that honors our life right now? Not knowing when the final moments might be, are there ways in which we can consciously try to live our best life? 

Mortality consciousness: One way to do that is to cultivate a mortality consciousness. Research shows that many people who go to sleep do not wake up to see another day.  Each day, upon waking up, we can be tremendously grateful for yet another day of this intensely beautiful life. We can treat each new day as a new opportunity to make things right and truly, deeply live our life the way we actually want to live it.

Your Legacy: An important thing to consider is your legacy. What is the legacy of your life? Beneath all the words, actions and emotions, what is the message you seem to be sending to others or loved ones? What is the immortal gift that you will leave behind for the world? Tell me about how your life is precious! What makes it so sweet? What are things that make you ecstatic to be yourself just as you are? What are things that you are passionate about? These are all part of your unique legacy.

The Beauty around us: Individually, life is a limited resource. However, the beauty of life and this universe is unlimited. Another way to appreciate our life is to treasure the beauty around us, such as the beautiful trees, birds, animals, waterfalls, mountains, flowers, the sun, moon and the stars. What a gorgeous planet to be on! Beholding the beauty around us make us feel grateful and can assist in living from the beauty within us.

Pure Love: Another way to consciously live our best life is to cherish the tender, beautiful moments that occur in our life, the ones that are priceless for us. If we seek to understand the other person’s point of view and gently make our own point of view known, then it may be possible to put some of the conflicts aside and let love prevail. It just makes our life worth living and we have less regrets.

Shine on: Despite the challenges and wrongs that may have been done to us, can we still shine on? Can our true self and nature emerge and blossom and we be just to ourselves and others with whom we have relationships? This means that we are honoring our life, other lives and moving toward living our best life.

What do you think? What is your legacy? Mark Twain said, "the two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why." What is your immortal gift to the world?

Bio: Sonia Sharma is an author and speaker in the personal development industry. Her work centers on self-healing and living one's best life. She has also served as a University Lecturer for the last 15 years at various prestigious institutions such as Stanford, Columbia University and UC Berkeley. She has been interviewed on radio and television shows, participated and presented at international conferences and published articles and books. She can be reached at sonia108lotus@gmail.com.

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Setu October 2021