By Shazad
Neo: Are you trying to tell me that I can dodge bullets?
MORPHEUS: No, Neo. I'm trying to tell you that when you're ready, you won't have to!
I love the above dialogue from The Matrix and I think it’s a great way to understand all the threats that come our way over time. There’s always a gun or two pointed at us but we don’t have to suffer and die in the way many people are today.
Many known ‘bullets’ come for everyone as we grow old and they are called chronic and preventable illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, and even various cancers. I recognize that sometimes people suddenly get sick and die as if someone “shot” them in the back of the head and there was nothing they could do about any of it. For the majority of people alive today, we know the bullets coming our way because we have studied how people age, get sick, and ultimately pass away in the modern world. The means or ways people are experiencing disease and how many of them perish from them are fairly well known along with prevention techniques.
Think of all the preventable causes of death like slowly moving bullets coming your way over the many years. You can clearly see them and you know they are headed your way to hurt or even kill you. Armed with this info about the future, you can train yourself to ‘stop’ those bullets by changing how you live, think and move today. You can take control of your health in terms of mind, body, and soul so that you don’t suffer the fate of so many others who follow the ‘wait and see what happens’ approach to aging. Such people are just waiting for one or more of these ‘bullets’ to strike them so they can do something about it. Sometimes one bullet is all it takes so this is obviously a careless approach to living.
We are not bulletproof and cannot dodge bullets like the chosen ONE from the Matrix. We can, however, choose to “stop” many of the bullets that will simply freeze where they are if we change the course of our lives by eating better, developing healthy fitness routines, and taking the time to rest, recover, and refresh our mind.
So now that you know the path to change your future, go walk it and be the hero of your own life!