Life wastes itself while we are preparing to live. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
If you had one week left to live, would you still be doing what you’re doing now? In what areas of your life are you preparing to live? Take them off your To Do list and add them to a To Stop list. Resolve to only do what makes you come alive.
Bonus: How can your goals improve the present and not keep you in a perpetual “always something better” spiral?
(Author: Jonathan Mead)
I have to believe that if I had only 1 week to live I would still write. I would write out all the hopes, dreams, fears and joyful experiences I would have during that week.
I'd keep practicing Buddhism, although I think I would practice harder and more than I am now, which means I should be doing more now than I am!
I would keep practicing yoga.
I wouldn't go to work.
I would ask my family more questions.
I would listen to great music and sing at the top of my lungs to singers like Tori Amos and Ani Di Franco who speak to my soul.
I would sit and watch the birds hopping around, pecking in the garden.
I would watch every sunrise and sunset.
I would savor each flavor that touched my tongue and every sensation that touched my skin.
I would tell everyone I loved them.
I would contact old friends.
I would meditate.
I would send out loving kindness to myself and those I loved as well as those I have a harder time with.
i would speak kindly to others.
I would give away as much money as I could.
I would relish every in and out breath I had left in me.
I would close my eyes and feast on the sounds around me.
I would open my eyes and drink in all the colors and shapes I could see.
I would kiss and hug those people that would accept it and send kisses and hugs to those I couldn't be with.
I would write love letters to each person I loved telling them my favorite memory of them, all the things I love about them and any widsom I had to impart.
I wouldn't wear makeup.
I wouldn't worry about how my hair/ skin/ body looked. I wouldn't even think about my ever appearing wrinkles.
There's just so much I would do...
To do:
All that I am currently doing - yoga, meditation, singing, loving, holding, enjoying, giving, writing.
To stop:
Working as an ESL teacher
Focusing on the negative
Holding back in telling those that I love that I love them
Distancing myself from friends that I love
Holding onto grudges
Holding onto money
Holding onto my breath
Eating and start tasting
Hearing and start listening
Speaking and start conversing
Watching and start seeing
Hating and start loving
Worrying and start LIVING
All these things make me come alive and I'm lucky enough to have the wisdom to be striving for them.
How can my goals improve the present?
I can focus on what my goals are doing for me in the present moment:
Are they bringing me joy?
Are they keeping me honest?
Do they move me?
Do they create dialogue with others?
Are they sustainable?
Does the practice bring me happiness?
Am I better in this moment than I was in the moment before?
Is the practice more fulfilling than the result?
Am I alive when you practice these goals?
Do they connect me with my true self?
Do I feel lighter when doing them than when not doing them?
If I answer yes to all of these questions then I know that the present moment in the goal is more important to me than the future outcome and therefore worth pursuing because they are being done for the right reasons.
Namaste
I have to believe that if I had only 1 week to live I would still write. I would write out all the hopes, dreams, fears and joyful experiences I would have during that week.
I'd keep practicing Buddhism, although I think I would practice harder and more than I am now, which means I should be doing more now than I am!
I would keep practicing yoga.
I wouldn't go to work.
I would ask my family more questions.
I would listen to great music and sing at the top of my lungs to singers like Tori Amos and Ani Di Franco who speak to my soul.
I would sit and watch the birds hopping around, pecking in the garden.
I would watch every sunrise and sunset.
I would savor each flavor that touched my tongue and every sensation that touched my skin.
I would tell everyone I loved them.
I would contact old friends.
I would meditate.
I would send out loving kindness to myself and those I loved as well as those I have a harder time with.
i would speak kindly to others.
I would give away as much money as I could.
I would relish every in and out breath I had left in me.
I would close my eyes and feast on the sounds around me.
I would open my eyes and drink in all the colors and shapes I could see.
I would kiss and hug those people that would accept it and send kisses and hugs to those I couldn't be with.
I would write love letters to each person I loved telling them my favorite memory of them, all the things I love about them and any widsom I had to impart.
I wouldn't wear makeup.
I wouldn't worry about how my hair/ skin/ body looked. I wouldn't even think about my ever appearing wrinkles.
There's just so much I would do...
To do:
All that I am currently doing - yoga, meditation, singing, loving, holding, enjoying, giving, writing.
To stop:
Working as an ESL teacher
Focusing on the negative
Holding back in telling those that I love that I love them
Distancing myself from friends that I love
Holding onto grudges
Holding onto money
Holding onto my breath
Eating and start tasting
Hearing and start listening
Speaking and start conversing
Watching and start seeing
Hating and start loving
Worrying and start LIVING
All these things make me come alive and I'm lucky enough to have the wisdom to be striving for them.
How can my goals improve the present?
I can focus on what my goals are doing for me in the present moment:
Are they bringing me joy?
Are they keeping me honest?
Do they move me?
Do they create dialogue with others?
Are they sustainable?
Does the practice bring me happiness?
Am I better in this moment than I was in the moment before?
Is the practice more fulfilling than the result?
Am I alive when you practice these goals?
Do they connect me with my true self?
Do I feel lighter when doing them than when not doing them?
If I answer yes to all of these questions then I know that the present moment in the goal is more important to me than the future outcome and therefore worth pursuing because they are being done for the right reasons.
Namaste
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