I love thinking about life as I engage in life's ups and downs as well as observe so many others navigating life's events. Recently, I have been apart of a rapid-fire phase of life as I've been involved with life changes related to relatives ranging in stages from very young to young adult to middle ages to elderly. For the very young, there's the daily developments related to movement, sound, nutrition, and other needs. For the young adults it's a world of new jobs, relationships, homes, and more. The middle ages include a myriad of decisions related to lifestyle, work, travel, relationships, and health, and for the elderly there's a world of final decisions impacted by health, family/friends, homes, and care. As I engage and observe, I'm always thinking about the kinds of decisions that strengthen relationships, care, and good living--like most people, I want to see my loved ones living their best lives no matter what stage they are in or what challenges they face. I want my love ones to live lives that serve them and others well. I want to live that kind of life too. At times, the path to good living is easy to follow and at other times the path is murky, crowded, and difficult to follow.
How do you live the good life for self and others? How do you navigate life's path when it becomes more challenging and less clear? When that happens, I fall back on the essentials of life; essentials related to values, priorities, capacity, and understanding.
Values
Our values typically lead us ahead. And when the road of life becomes confusing, it's time to revisit our values. For me I value good living for self and others. To think of self alone never results in good living, but to think of your life in conjunction with the lives of those you love and those in your community and world is the best way to forge good life paths.
As I think of our individual paths, my values are related to life's essential ingredients including a warm welcoming home, good nutrition, healthy activity, and strong relationships. The priorities here are to manage your time, energy, and finances to best care for yourself and your loved ones; and when you are unable to do that, you have to reach out to the resources that exist to help you meet those needs.
As for living a good life for others, it's important not to take more than you deserve and to live with respect for those around you. Further, I believe we have to recognize the humanity that we all share--no matter your culture, class, gender, lifestyle, you deserve a good life like anyone else and we all have to live with respect and care for one another.
Priorities
I believe that our first priority in life is to take care of ourselves so that we have the energy, time, and resources to care for one another. If we let ourselves go, we are no good for anyone else. Self-care will vary from person to person, but we need to know what we need to live our best lives and meet those needs in ways that we can.
The next priority is to take care of our loved ones to the best of our abilities. What can we do for our family members and friends? How can we use our time, energy, and other resources to care for our family members and friends?
After that, comes our contribution to the greater community. What can we do to support the kind of community and world that cares well for all people? How can we counter the kinds of leadership and events that harm and hurt people?
Capacity
Big dreamers like me have to remind ourselves often of our capacity since our dreams outpace what we can actually do. So we have to consult our capacity and use our capacity as well as we can to meet our priorities and values.
Understanding
Today's rapid paced, highly interconnected world demands that we understand what's going on and that understanding requires research and study. The more we understand what's involved with any challenge, the better we will do. For example, I care for my grandchild, and the research related to child development has changed quite a bit since I was a young mom. I have a responsibility to understand the new information and apply that learning to my care. Similarly I have relatives who face serious health needs, and the more I understand those needs, the better able I will be to support them. The more we understand what's going on, the better we can help at any level and arena of living. Essentially, we have to do our homework.
So today I'll take a few moments to consider the rapid-fire events of the last few days and chart the path ahead. I appreciate all the support I've had from so many loved ones during this busy period of life. Onward.
