“When I remember, it’ll be brown eyes and wild hair, a smile so wide and bright, you knew he was there. When I remember, it’ll be warm, strong hugs, drinking black, strong coffee out of enormous mugs. When I remember, it’ll be talking late at night, trying to get this life thing, just exactly right. When I remember, it’ll be working side by side, jumping in his pickup, going for a ride. When I remember, it’ll be shouting words of fun, with a brother and two sisters, not quitting till he’d won….”

Perhaps, you have the best intentions, but you are too busy. Between your job and your family and taking care of your home you barely have time to spend with your near and dear ones. Sometimes it happens that one loses his/her beloved one with the blink of an eye without anytime to spend with, then s/he will regret painfully. Life is too short; a small negligence will lead to irreparable loss.

You can tell what is important to a person by the way they spend their time. If relationships are important, you will make time for them. You will make it a priority to send birthday greetings, celebrate the joys and mourn the losses of your nearest and dearest. And if you want to truly live the good life, you’ll expand this out to include friends and acquaintances who might become better friends with a little time and small gifts.

It is a great misfortune that I always fail to keep a regular contact with my friends and family. Moreover, I fear that I will never find a chance to live with my family members. Then, can anything heal the wounds to be left by the loss of my beloved ones? Never! There is a good story which teaches one to keep contact with their kiths and kin and value them in their lifetime; otherwise taking a bunch of flower to their insensitive graves or shedding bitter tears on their tombstones will hardly mitigate one’s pains and sorrows.

A man drove to a flower shop to order some flowers to be wired or couriered to his mother who lived 200 miles away. He was just too busy to visit his mother on her birthday. As he got out of his car, he noticed a young girl sitting on the curb sobbing. The man asked her what was wrong. “I wanted to buy a red rose for my mother. But I only have 75 cents, and a rose costs two dollars.” The girl replied. The man smiled kindly at the girl. “Come on into the shop with me. I’ll buy you a rose”, he said.

He bought the little girl her rose and ordered his own flowers for his mother’s birthday. He instructed the florist to courier the flowers over to his mother’s home the following day. As they were leaving, he offered the girl a ride home. “Oh! Thank you so much sir! Please take me to my mother”, the girl said happily. The man was only too happy to oblige. He asked the little girl to direct him to her mother’s place. The little girl directed the man to a cemetery, where she placed the rose on a grave. Her mother had died a few days ago.

The man returned to the flower shop, canceled the courier service, picked up a bouquet of flowers and drove the two hundred miles to his mother’s house.

We should not take things for granted. Value what we have and count our blessings. How often have we got caught up in a never-ending process of ‘busyness’? We fail to realize that at any time death can flatten all our material possessions and worldly achievements, status and power.

 What really matters ultimately are the intangible things, the love, kindness, gratitude, generosity, compassion and care we show towards others. The development of these qualities is our true wealth; qualities that help us grow spiritually, qualities that lead us to true peace, happiness and freedom.

Let’s not live a life that will cause us to regret when the time comes for us to leave everything and everyone behind. Let’s do the positive things now, do them when we still can. Let’s not wait before it is too late.

Living a life meaningfully would entail touching others’ lives so that they become more happy and peaceful. When a life is lived meaningfully, then that life can die joyfully.

We are recommended to make the time for visiting our friends and relatives. We’re all busy, and we all have things vying for our attention every second of the day. In order to invest in our relationships, we are supposed to make it a priority and carve out the time for it, even though it doesn’t seem like a pressing need.

It is believed that the most precious gift in one’s life is spending time with their near and dear ones. Hence, let’s cherish this gift and develop a healthy relationship with our friends and relatives. It must be noted that “a healthy relationship will never require you to sacrifice your happiness, your other important relationships, your dreams, or your dignity.” So, it is aptly said that, “The best gift you can give someone you care about is the purity of your full attention.  That’s what best friends do for each other every time they’re together.”