I woke up a bit late, and did the 30 minute shortened sequence (“Primary Express”) from YogaToday.com that I mentioned two weeks back. I felt happy just to be able to get on the mat and get to the closing asanas.

After savasana, I received a text message from a friend who lives in Zamboanga City (an hour and a half away from Manila by aeroplane, in the island of Mindanao). It was about one of our friends, D., who was our batchmate from JVP.

D. had been diagnosed with lung cancer this May–a rare and aggressive form of the disease. D., the text message read, feels like she’s going soon. Two courses of chemo and the tumor is still growing, says her doctor.

D. is just 27, a year older than me.

I’m very frustrated because I feel like there’s not much I can do (save for pray and send good thoughts and feelings her way), and it’s that sense of helplessness that gets me.

On the other hand, I look at D.’s life and how full it is, how well-lived, how much she gave of herself to her family, friends, the people she worked with as a development worker–and I find I am so inspired too. That despite her 27 years she’s touched and continues to touch so many people’s lives.

It inspires me to live my life to the full, to touch as many lives as I can, to serve as well as I can.

Because we never know when we leave this earth–we have ultimately no control over that–but we know and are in control of what kind of world we can leave behind with our passing.