Today I Will . . .

I was just thinking back to the time when I was being held hostage by someone else’s taste in radio stations. I was in their car and still 15 minutes or so away from our destination, so I quietly accepted the music which I would never hear in my own car.

We covered all of the conversation we were going to and fell into silence except for this pop satellite radio station which started playing a song with lyrics that quickly grabbed my attention. The song talked about living the day as if it were your last. The lyrics were thought provoking and actually really good.

For a few minutes I looked at my life through the perspective offered by the song. What would I do if I knew this was my last day of life? Recognizing that, at least to me, the song was less about living your last day of life and more about living without fear and doing what you truly desire to do “now” instead of someday, I quickly noted how things would be different living in this new perspective.

I would really go after that beautiful woman I long for but never speak to. I would tell my friends like Kev, Duke, Scott, Rick and Mike how deeply important their friendship has been to me and how I hate that my selfishness has so often gotten in the way of my honest expression of love towards them. I would finish the album that has taken me 15 years to do because I would not care about how it is received.

I would be expressing God’s gift and that would be all that mattered. I would live by my foundational beliefs all of the time, not just when it feels or sounds best to do so. I would live a life instead of spending so much time conceptualizing a life.

That song did what I believe all great songs do; touch the listener deeply. That was a few years ago and since then some things have changed and some things are still changing. However, the recall of that moment brings to mind a great reminder for this moment: Live Now!

Today I will produce my music, express my love, do something I fear to do and do them all with excellence. Having done them, should this be my last day, my last actions will have been excellent and, if I’m still here tomorrow my foundation will be made from the excellence of my past.

From here, I build an excellent life! Man, I love a well written song!

Just my thoughts.

-REL