“Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.” – Norman Cousins
This quote above is very heavy if you fully understand it. So, being alive is not just about breathing, but striving to get closer to higher self. What would you like to be said about you when you’ve left this planet? Take this time to think about it, write it down and live your life in accordance with it. This will surely make it easy for people to speak about you in your funeral instead of making things up. I’ve attended a number of funerals in my life, I’m sure you have too, where people that were chosen to speak about the deceased had a terrible time on stage, not because they were bad speakers, but because they had to be ‘creative with the truth’ just to be ‘politically correct’ and ‘show some respect’.
Malcolm Forbes, the founder of Forbes magazine, has these words engraved on his tombstone: ‘While Alive He Lived’. He was highly motivated and retained a childlike excitement throughout his life. He was never deterred by external noises and people’s opinions of him. Let’s look at the meaning of motivation. Motivation comes from the word motive and motive is the reason for doing something. This motive comes from the Latin word movere/motivuswhich means ‘to move’. So, motivation is the engine for doing things. This is what compels and drive us to take consistent action in pursuit of that which matters most to us. For us to move, we need to cultivate our motivation. You cultivate motivation by having ambition/desire about something and expect it to happen -through your deeds, not just waiting and hoping. It is this mindset that sparks motivation.
When you have allowed ambition/desire and expectancy to die, then you have died a serious death than death itself. I was born to motivate you, to make you realize that you matter and that you have something special and unique in you. What you have in you is truly one of the kind and don’t let it die inside you. Let the world celebrate you while you are alive and when you are gone, let them say, “While Alive He lived!”
Veli Ndaba is a leadership and Insightful Speaker, Life-Coach and Neuro- Linguistic Programming Practitioner, Author of three books (You Are Born to Win, Your Dream is Calling You and SWITCH ON!), Newspaper Columnist and Entrepreneur. To book him to help you and your team unleash your greatness, contact him on veli@velindaba.com, www.velindaba.com and 083 304 9773