Life is a terminal condition and you are likely to have multiple serious health issues in your lifetime. Here is a list of things you should do beforehand:
1. Seize the Day (Carpe Diem) – Your hospital check-in maybe tomorrow, so do it today. Make a bucket list of priorities and things that are important in your life and focus on them now.
2. Choose Wellness – Buy yourself sometime; most health issues are avoidable or can be postponed. See earlier posts on Hauora Wellness and Cancer is a preventable disease. Whether it’s driving your car too fast, smoking, bad diet, poor exercise, etc.; make a decision: choose wellness and extend your quality life.
3. Find your Faith and Identity – If you rely on things, activities, wealth, status or image to define who you are, you will be doing it hard on the home straight or if you no longer have these things. Seek and explore your faith, beliefs and values and complete this question: I am...? Then reassess your priorities in action 1 above.
4. Enjoy the Small Things (Joie de Vivre) – Develop ebullience for life and stop to smell the roses.
5. Become Financially Secure – For most, with sickness, this means crisis or income protection insurance. The last thing you want to do if you are sick is stress about money. Blokes if your identity (3 above) is all about providing for the family, how do you think you will feel when you can't? Remember to insure all family members for additional health costs and time off work to support a non income generating member.
6. Get a Partner - and invest in a relationship that believes in "for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health". Remember it’s reciprocal.
7. Be the Best that YOU can Be – Fully extend and develop your capabilities and be replete in your achievements.
Live life now – If every second day is a bad day, you are halving your ‘life’ expectancy. Be brave make changes that improve your quality of life, be careful when changing external factors because maybe the thing that needs to be changed most is YOU.
I would love your feedback on this, I’m sure I am missing a couple of items; maybe jointly we can get to 10. J
I would love your feedback on this, I’m sure I am missing a couple of items; maybe jointly we can get to 10. J
I like these ones: "Find something more important that yourself and dedicate your life to it" - the Secret of Happiness according to Daniel Dennett.
ReplyDelete"Hate nothing at all except hatred" - Bob Dylan
Thanks Malcolm I love these also. You seem to be living these out with your Meaningful Volunteer work. Are they mantras?
ReplyDeleteMantras? Hmmm... not quite the right word.
ReplyDeleteDan Dennett is a fav. philosopher of mine. He figured he better do something useful as philosopher and sat down and tried to come up with something happiness inducing, and the above quote is what he got.
The Dylan one is a good one to keep in perspective when you see all the wicked actions in developing countries.
Keep up the good fight buddy.
I'm not so good at this sort of thing but, you've reminded me to think a lot about stuff like this of late Mr T.
ReplyDeleteBalance:
Make sure you put enough time to all the things in your life like, family, friends, work, play, relationships, progress.
Drivers
No golf or racing cars but the things that cause us to do things, make decisions. I'm guessing this is related to the find out who you are stuff.
Philosophy:
What makes us tick? What are our deep beliefs?
Perhaps this relates also to ones faith? Tricky this one I think and rather unique to everyone I suppose.
That's all I can think of right now.
Cherrio.
It's funny how you come across quotes that hit a chord and lock in with your belief system or view of the world. To get a complete view of all aspects of your life you would probably need a small book of quotes. try coming the other way round and writing your own quotes. An alternative exercise is writing your own eulogy. This blog post was partly inspired by a favorite song by Jon Foreman called "learning how to die". Sounds all a bit morbid but is not , turning this around is a lesson on "learning how to live". It takes a long time to build a life of substance, so at least having a go at settling out some foundations and goals seems a sensible thing to do.
ReplyDeleteBill, great to see I have inspired some deep thinking. Balance and Drivers are good words. Is what makes us tick unique? Maybe. there are a lot of people that have gone before and we can learn from them. I like inspiring books and people e.g. Richard Branson or Mother Theresa or meaningful volunteer website. I don't think any of us has this sorted out and it is tricky, but this shouldn't stop us starting and talking about it.
ReplyDeleteIn no particular order - thoughts and themes picked up through life.
ReplyDelete1. Personal integrity - be honest to yourself
2. Learn to like who you really are - life's a real drag if 'it always sucks to be you'
3. Remember that you take yourself with you wherever you go - do not be afraid of that responsibility
4. If the opportunity and person present themselves - Love someone with all your heart
5. When someone you care for inspires you, fills you with respect, admiration, awe or indeed love tell them
perhaps you could add DONT BE AFRAID of your friends...share with them..talk to them..particularly guys..talk about it..then as nike says...just do it....sending good thoughts to you and yours...crim's mum
ReplyDeleteDon't do a Bucket List do a F@%k It list. I got some great feedback on this post. The above was an offline comment I received which deserved posting. In essence eliminate the negatives and things that annoy you in life, distill the quality.
ReplyDeleteOne passed on from the father in law; Die living, don't live dying.
ReplyDelete