{"id":423,"date":"2011-11-15T06:00:15","date_gmt":"2011-11-15T06:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/fromthemasters\/?p=423"},"modified":"2011-11-11T19:30:10","modified_gmt":"2011-11-11T19:30:10","slug":"life-begins-when-you-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fromthemasters\/2011\/11\/life-begins-when-you-do.html","title":{"rendered":"Life Begins When You Do"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>A story from Life Begins When You Do<\/strong><\/em><\/a> by Mary Anne Radmacher<\/p>\n

Nearly everyone postpones one grand thing or a collection of mighty hopes and dreams.<\/p>\n

Between the quote marks of our lives are phrases like these: “When things slow down…when I finish my degree…when I get certified…as I acquire a deeper knowledge base…when I have kids…when the kids are grown…when I get well…when I marry…when I divorce…when I retire…when I get that promotion, that raise, that job, that house, that whatever the fill-in-the blank is for your specific postponing of life…”<\/p>\n

Your Life Begins When You Do.<\/p>\n

You may think you are postponing the longing of your soul until life aligns itself with your vision, until elements conspire to be more favorable…but as it happens, life just lolls along at the same remarkable consistent and disinterested cadence. Life is impartial. YOUR personal, subjective life (dreams, satisfactions, contentment, achievements, vision, fullness, passion, aspirations) begins when you begin.<\/p>\n

From my teens into adulthood, I said, “I want to be an artist.” One day I changed the sentence to, “I am an artist.” My view changed. Life began. I looked behind me and saw that I had been accidentally living as an artist. I had been laying down a path that was only now visible to eyes that had begun to see. Beginning my life as an artist made my heart’s longing and the small, tentative labors of my hands – visible and tangible. I began by opening the door and simply believing that I could live my dream. I began living that dream by seeing that I could.<\/p>\n

Your purpose, that thing that among the many to-dos of your days, is what you must do. Embrace the truth of your purpose each minute of your precious life…for how very true it is that life begins when you do.<\/p>\n

If you would dream it
\nBEGIN it.<\/p>\n

If you have an idea
\nOPEN it.<\/p>\n

If there is longing
\nACKNOWLEDGE it.<\/p>\n

If there is mission
\nCOMMIT it.<\/p>\n

If there is daring
\nDO it.<\/p>\n

If there is love
\nSPEAK it.<\/p>\n

If there is resource
\nUSE it.<\/p>\n

If there is abundance
\nSHARE it.<\/p>\n

\n

To learn more about Life Begins When You Do, please click here<\/a>! <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Reprinted by permission of Simple Truths (c) 2011. In order to protect the rights of the copyright holder, no portion of this publication may be reproduced without prior written consent. All rights reserved.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A story from Life Begins When You Do by Mary Anne Radmacher Nearly everyone postpones one grand thing or a collection of mighty hopes and dreams. Between the quote marks of our lives are phrases like these: “When things slow down…when I finish my degree…when I get certified…as I acquire a deeper knowledge base…when I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":96,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-life-advice"],"yoast_head":"\nLife Begins When You Do - From the Masters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fromthemasters\/2011\/11\/life-begins-when-you-do.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Life Begins When You Do - From the Masters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A story from Life Begins When You Do by Mary Anne Radmacher Nearly everyone postpones one grand thing or a collection of mighty hopes and dreams. 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