A Thing of Beauty or Nothingness?

The beginning of a John Keats poem (Endymion) is one of my favorites:

A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing

Most probably aspire to have elements of life that are “A Thing of Beauty” – I know I do. When a person passes away, it wouldn’t be a bad thing for someone to say that his/her life was “A Thing of Beauty”.

The word “Nothingness” is powerful in the poem as well and something that most people probably would like to avoid.

In my opinion, a life with elements of Nothingness comes in many forms including but not limited to:

 A life lived for others
 A life with little or no “Me Time”
 A HIGH stress life
 A life with little or no risk/boldness
 A life where irresponsible mistakes are made over and over again
 A life without love
 A life with a pattern of chaos and/or drama in relationship after relationship
 A life ruled by emotions
 A life of worrying
 A life ruled by food
 A life of negativity
 A life of arrogance
 A life of not helping others
 A life spent complaining

Living a full and well-rounded life is not easy although if you are just sitting around waiting for life to happen to you, you will probably be waiting for a very long time. If you can relate to any of the aforementioned points above, I implore you to do something positive about it and don’t let your life simmer in Nothingness.

Grab life as hard as you can while there is still life to grab! Don’t be afraid to be laser-like in going after your dreams or goals. Time waits for no one.

A final question to ponder:

Does your life resemble “A Thing of Beauty” or are you more closely aligned with elements of Nothingness?

Happy Gswede Sunday!

Snow is always "A Thing of Beauty" - November 2010 on the coast of Southern Sweden (Picture by Fredrik)