Happy Last day of February! Today, I’m going to offer you a theme of respecting time. And life! Here are two questions to work with for your personal growth and seeking of purpose.

We all know that February is the shortest month of the year with its only 28 days according to the Gregorian calendar. This was created in order to ensure an even count of sunlight days and moon risings, that aren’t exactly 24 hours every day, which therefor becomes a 29^th day every four years. The next time we have such a day extra, will be in 2028, but I thought we could use this as a life coaching theme anyway today too. So, the first question is: What would you do if you had a day extra? A day extra, where you don’t have anything planned that you must tend to. Most of us, either must follow our schedules of work or school, or simply go about our days pretty much the same way anyway. In one way, this is good, because at the end of the day, the calendar is something man-made, that we need to function together in society and to sync ourselves with each other, to manage our trade and living. On the other hand, if we must live according to this calendar in the Western world, we might as well take advantage of it! So, what do you long for to do? Start by dreaming without limits. If you had all the resources available to you, what would you like to do? What is the feeling in this that you’re seeking to experience? What other things can bring about this feeling? What can you do with lesser resources? Dreaming like this, can help us expand our minds and open us up for receiving more or at least feel more inspired. Is there something you haven’t done for a long time, such as visited a museum in your own town, or snuck into a movie theatre in the middle of the afternoon? When can you do it?

The other way of looking at a short month like February, is to remember the fragility of life. We don’t know how many days we have left to live. Or how many days our loved ones have. On occasion, especially when I feel stuck, I like asking myself the question: What would I do if I only had three months left to live? What would you do if you only had three months left to live? This of course, is not exactly reasonable if you’re severely ill and can’t do much but rest, hope and pray. But the point isn’t to stress people dealing with life-threatening illnesses, but for us who don’t struggle with it at the moment, to always remember to respect and cherish both our own time on earth, and others’. 

So, after you’ve spent some time asking yourself what you would do if you only had three months left to live and therethrough realizing what is most important to you or what you really long for, that you should try doing as soon as possible, you can also think of how you relate to others. Are you respectful of other’s time on earth? Are you delaying, stalling, obstructing, hindering or even refusing closure with someone who needs it? And therethrough stopping that person from living a fulfilling life his or her last days? Who are you to do that? 

Here of course, it’s important to practice forgiveness, to see where you hold any grudges that you don’t want to carry anymore. To let go of them, forgive yourself and others, and ask to be forgiven as well.

It was when I asked myself the question what I would do if I only had three months left to live in 2008, that I felt my heart clearly say to go back to Hawai’i and see the people there again that I had gotten to know in 2004 and 2005. And what do you know, life offered me an unexpected opportunity to return a year later, which I did! Often, we’re walking on a path governed by “best practices” of the intellectual and logical kind, to be obeying citizens or obeying children still to our parents even if we have grown up and they might not have had our interests prioritized anyway. When the path where magic happens, is the path of the heart! Dare to tune into yours. Write it down in a journal or say a prayer to God or Universe. Then see what happens! You might get suddenly inspired to do something that will lead you toward your heart’s deepest longing. Have you tried?