{"id":6106,"date":"2025-03-16T23:17:44","date_gmt":"2025-03-16T23:17:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/?p=6106"},"modified":"2025-08-17T23:50:00","modified_gmt":"2025-08-17T22:50:00","slug":"memento-mori-memento-vivere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/2025\/03\/16\/memento-mori-memento-vivere\/","title":{"rendered":"Memento mori, memento vivere"},"content":{"rendered":"

This year I'm wishing you a happy St. Patrick's day<\/a> from the boarding gate of a random airport, while travelling for work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It's been a bit of a weird week, and the idea from the title keeps going around in my head since Friday. I know this doesn't sound like much of a celebration, but in a certain way it is, a celebration of life... It all depends, as usual, on perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Photo<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(This is one of the famous Celtic high crosses at Clonmacnoise monastic site, in county Offaly, Ireland).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first half of the quote is the most widely known: memento mori<\/em>, \"remember you will die\". At first sight, the idea may seem a bit depressing (it reminds me of \"dust you are, and to dust you shall return\", which is typically said on Ash Wednesday as part of the Christian tradition). But for the ancient Greeks, its meaning referred to living life while we still have it (as in the famous quote carpe diem<\/em>, \"seize the day\"). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This thought that everything can come to an end any day (or rather, that we ourselves can come to an end) gives us perspective; it encourages us to appreciate the life we have and live it more intentionally, with more intensity. And not only in the sense of enjoying the present, as per the Epicurean teachings (although that's part of it too), but also in the sense of \"living a good life\" according to the Stoic philosophy, that is, doing something worthy with your life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that's where the second half of the quote comes into play: memento vivere<\/em>, \"remember to live\". Because the reality is that we have no Idea when life is going to be over for us; we may die tomorrow, but we may not, and if so, we have a whole life ahead of us to do wonderful things and leave our legacy in this world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The key here, at least in my view, is finding a way to be able to enjoy the present moment while at the same time keeping good habits that will allow us to live many years with a good quality of life, so that we continue to have energy to do the things that make us feel fulfilled: hobbies, projects, time with our loved ones...<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What about you? Which side do you remember mote often, the fact that you're going to die, or the fact that you can, and should, live? In what specific ways can you make the most of this opportunity that life is giving you today? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Este a\u00f1o os deseo feliz San Patricio desde la sala de embarque de un aeropuerto cualquiera, en mitad de un viaje por trabajo. Ha sido una semana un poco rara, y la idea del t\u00edtulo es lo que me viene rondando por la cabeza desde el viernes. Ya s\u00e9 que no suena mucho a celebraci\u00f3n, … Continue reading Memento mori, memento vivere<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":3116429,"featured_media":6103,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"BinaryWords - Memento mori, memento vivere","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Alg\u00fan d\u00eda suceder\u00e1... \u00bfQu\u00e9 vas a hacer mientras tanto? \/ Some day it will happen... \u00bfWhat are you going to do in the meantime?","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3DPtR-1Au","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9688,"url":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/2026\/09\/14\/ventanas-al-mundo\/","url_meta":{"origin":6106,"position":0},"title":"Windows to the world","author":"binarybea","date":"14\/09\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Esta semana o\u00ed un comentario en la radio que me pareci\u00f3 curioso: dec\u00edan algo as\u00ed como que muchos j\u00f3venes de hoy en d\u00eda consideran que se puede saber m\u00e1s de c\u00f3mo es realmente una persona por los libros que posee que por su perfil en redes sociales. \u00bfT\u00fa qu\u00e9 opinas?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Personal"","block_context":{"text":"Personal","link":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/category\/diario-journal\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_20260822_195817-e1789341732906.jpg?fit=1200%2C756&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_20260822_195817-e1789341732906.jpg?fit=1200%2C756&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_20260822_195817-e1789341732906.jpg?fit=1200%2C756&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_20260822_195817-e1789341732906.jpg?fit=1200%2C756&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_20260822_195817-e1789341732906.jpg?fit=1200%2C756&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9635,"url":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/2026\/08\/31\/reto-de-30-dias\/","url_meta":{"origin":6106,"position":1},"title":"30-day challenge","author":"binarybea","date":"31\/08\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00bfQu\u00e9 opinas de los retos de 30 d\u00edas? \u00bfAlguna vez has hecho alguno? Ahora que est\u00e1 a punto de empezar septiembre, es un muy buen momento para plante\u00e1rselo (y me acabo de dar cuenta de que hace dos a\u00f1os escrib\u00ed pr\u00e1cticamente lo mismo, cuando me propuse el reto de 30\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Herramientas"","block_context":{"text":"Herramientas","link":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/category\/herramientas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_20260830_084440.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_20260830_084440.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_20260830_084440.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_20260830_084440.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_20260830_084440.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"amp_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/wp-17421021484174803706620192034582-2932069605-e1742165606218.jpg?fit=1500%2C1125&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3116429"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6106"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6106\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7609,"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6106\/revisions\/7609"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}