What is a lifetime? Is it living life up to the age where you are supposed to experience biological death? Or is it something else? In this video, Christopher Aiff  recounts his experience after being diagnosed  with Osteosarcoma in his leg. The doctors told him he was cured, but then found 50 tumors in his lungs on his first check up. He is only 21 but his time is hampered by thoughts of realizing that he could be taken away from this so-called life any time soon. He is living life to the fullest in his last days together with his sister. They are traveling all over the world. They are living it up without hesitations.

People have reservations. Be it about living or being honest with what they feel. We are afraid of being judged or rejected. But when you have faced the eye of the hurricane, when you have gazed into the black hole of death, it makes you braver. This is what Christopher Aiff is explaining in this video.

I saw this post on the wall of The Wild Irish Poet who released his book called Naked in New York yesterday. I own a copy via kindle and I am reading it as I moved in my world. There is a thread that runs between the Soulpancake video and Naked in New York. It is all about being honest and being brave to face life.

I’ve had my own ‘dying’ moment. It’s that point in my life where I walked away from security and embrace the unknown. Last year, I lost my job, my beloved dog Precious and a person I considered as part of my life. The ghost of the past continues to haunt me. Just the other day I received hate mails coming from a person who played a  part of that tragic past. And the healing wounds ripped open again.When someone you love leaves you not just through his/her presence, but also shots you out like you have no worth then this is how it feels. It feels like a major part of your body has been severed. A part of you dies. A room in your heart that’s reserved for your one life explodes into million pieces. It is a kind of explosion no one hears.  It didn’t end there. But out of that death another thing awakens. It’s that sense that you need to be kind to your self because if you don’t no one will.

I love the story of Christopher Aiff. And I am glad I met The Wild Irish Poet who is showing me the power of words: how they can destroy or heal us.