Let us postpone nothing. Let us balance life’s account every day. -Seneca
What a beautiful sentiment. Postpone nothing. Balance life’s account. Daily. Just breaking it down like this makes me breathe slower…more mindfully.
What does it even mean to postpone nothing? Is it about living in the present? Fully here. Fully aware. Just imagine how our relationships would deepen, become richer, more alive and real if we were to truly be present. Each moment. Wherever we are.
No distractions. No multi-tasking. No Pavlovian responses to our cellphone chimes.
What if we didn’t wait for the “right” moment, the perfect moment, to jump into full-hearted living? What if we recklessly chose authenticity? What if we embraced integrity and truth and kindness and lived that out in our day-to-day lives?
What if we apologized when we hurt people? What if we said what needed to be said, the hard stuff, the good stuff, the “I love you” or “I’m scared” stuff — all mixed up together and messy like real life and real living and real human beings are bound to be.
What if we stopped waiting for a quieter moment? A more opportune moment? A more appropriate moment? What if that moment is right here and now? What if it’s always a good time to be yourself, to try and discover more of who that self is, and share the gift of that self with the world?
Seneca says postpone nothing. Balance life’s account every day. It sounds so perfect. Unfortunately we don’t really inhabit a perfect world.
But there’s nothing to keep us from hoping. From growing. From encouraging others to keep hoping and growing too.
Maybe that’s part of not postponing. It’s not the fact of “having arrived” — it’s being aware that you are on the journey to begin with. Even two thousand years ago, Seneca knew the beauty of being present and awake to life and the gift of keeping short accounts. Maybe today, we can know it’s value too.