Peeling off Layers

... in the western tradition we were taught many things about the nature of negativity and the nature of sin, but we were never told that one of the greatest sins is the *unlived life*. We are sent into the world to live to the full everything that awakens within us and everything that comes towards us. It is a lonely experience to be at the deathbed of someone who is full of regret; to hear him say how he would love another year to do the things his heart has always dreamed of but believed he could never do until he retired. He had always postponed the dream of his heart. There are many people who do not live the lives they desire. Many of the things that hold them back from inhabiting their destiny are false. These are only images in their minds. They are not real barriers at all. We should never allow our fears or the expectations of others to set the frontier of our destiny.
We are so privileged to still have time. We have but one life and it is a shame to limit it by fear and false barriers. Iranaeus, a wonderful philosopher and theologian in the second century, said: The Glory of God is the human person fully alive.
.. from the book Anam Cara by John O'Donohue