When I can stand aside from harsh self judgment, I am forced to admit I've had a successful life so far.
I'm nurtured by a fantastic relationship with an incredible woman, my wife of 27 years. I've fathered two sons who are now young men, and who fill me with pride and joy as they begin to make their way in the world. With my family, I've moved and traveled when and where I've wanted to, and have experienced life in several different countries. I've had a varied career, and notwithstanding investments that fell short of the mark, financial independence is within reach. I've had many adventures along the way: I've run for political office, helped start a company, learned some foreign languages, developed some real estate, helped run a school, affected many lives. I've met interesting people and made some very good friends.
Yet, I've found myself often disappointed, yearning to find that one big Mission
One day, a life coach asked me what I would do the following day, if I didn't have to worry about money, or family, or job, or other commitments. What would I take on if I didn't each have to worry about finding a new cause, or making a difference, or doing Something Important -- with a capital "I"?
It wasn't an entirely new question, but it touched a nerve recently made raw. After almost six decades on the planet, I resolved to start my Bucket List -- and to apply sustained effort to knocking off the items one by one.
The launch of my List pushed aside the ageing scaffolding of Importance. For the first time since I was very young, I started to think about things I would do "just because". No need for them to be earth-shaking, or important in anyone else's eyes, or even Important in my own eyes. The only test for inclusion on my list was: would I regret it if I didn't get around to this before my life was over? Would I feel my life unlived if I could have created the opportunity, and let it slip by instead.
Starting in that moment of decision, I felt myself lifting away from some unneeded concerns. Living became fun again. I felt like a wide-eyed child again. Life was good, and the world was bursting with opportunities.
My List grew slowly at first. I didn't want to clutter my list with things I thought I should want to do, but didn't yearn for. No "nice ideas"; no "everyone should want this." I was careful to make sure everything I added met the requirement: was this honestly something I would regret not doing? A final indicator was a certain feeling of "Yes!" when something passed the test: it had been on my unspoken list all along. After a couple of weeks, my List had six items on it. Two weeks later, it had grown almost sevenfold.
More exciting still was getting into action on Item Number One, something that I'd been taking no action on for years. Pushing considerable fears aside, I went for it. I could not have imagined what a powerful and liberating experience that would be! But that's a story for another day.
So too is my laughing thought that my List might yet be the catalyst for Something Important.
Resources:
Here are some of the resources I found most helpful in starting my List:
- Create a List of 100 Things to Do Before You Die by Marelisa Fabrega
- Start 2009 With a Bang: Create a Life List also by Marelisa
- And her great Squidoo Lens: Creating a Bucket List - 100 Things to do Before You Die
- Marelisa now has 525+ Ideas for Your Bucket List
- Marelisa also has a new eBook for sale: How To Live Your Best Life- The Essential Guide for Creating and Achieving Your Life List (affiliate link)
- Death Meditation led by Sheldon at The Quiet Mind - this four-part series was the closest description I found: Death Mediation: meeting death before it comes - and this was one result
- And if you're interested, this was my list as of about week four.
No comments:
Post a Comment