2015 is half over...where has the time gone? The hardest part of growing up is to realize that there is no time left. This concept of "the end" is the reason why some teachers or great masters seem to be so impatient. Their impatience lies in the fact that there is so much to learn and truly so little time. The concept that time is not our friend is embodied in the cherry blossom or sakura. The Japanese love this motif because it encompasses everything that one
needs to know in order to understand what it means to be a warrior. The cherry blossom is a flower that doesn't wither and die. Instead at the peak of its beauty it falls from the branch. To the samurai it is reminiscent of a head falling after being chopped off and thus the fleetingness of life.
Some people often comment that the samurai "love death." Nothing could be farther from the truth. In all actuality, the warrior embraces life and truly lives it unlike the people of today. In each and every moment one is born, lives and dies. The true warrior does not cast off life, but lives it fully within each breath. Only having truly lived can one meet their death with a poised calmness and a sense of happiness. This is all captured in the symbol of the cherry blossom.
Now that the year is half over, what will you do or rather how will you live the rest of your days? The choice is yours. Life is worth living.