Marjorie McNeely Conservatory at Sunset
What is a life worth living?
Is it to be found in what we do or who we are or how we are in the world?
Or is every life worth living no matter what we do, who we are or how we are in the world?
Still blooming in late September
I’ve met so people of great accomplishment in my life and I’ve met ordinary people, like me, who have no great claim to fame.
I believe we are all equally worthy of love, respect, and kindness.
For years, whenever I met someone whom I admired, I would say to myself, “I should be more like her,” or him, whoever, it was that I was admiring. Yet the thing I keep learning over and over again in my life is that comparing myself to someone else does more harm than good.
One of my favorite views on a path near my house
As a young manager of a non-profit well baby clinic, I emulated the savvy, street-smart director of a non-profit daycare who was on my board of directors and had been the primary force behind the citizen group that hired me to begin a new non-profit well baby clinic in the college town I lived in. My friend had great political savvy and was able to trim her sail to take advantage of almost any political wind. And she held an unshakable belief in the causes she embraced.
Crab apple time
After several years of trying to live up to the legend of her I had built up in my mind, I admitted to myself that I did not share her unshakable belief in the “cause.” Eventually I left the non-profit world and returned to college to complete my computer science degree.
It is only now, that I am older and can look through eyes of compassion and kindness at myself as well as everyone else that I realize that there is no formula for creating a worthy life.
The only thing I know for certain is that shoulds are deadly. Whenever I hear myself saying, “I should…” I know that this is not something that comes from my true self.
Green and gold
I believe that all are born to fulfill a unique and often hidden purpose. The compass that helps discover our hidden purpose is our emotions. What brings us joy? What can we NOT do? What lights us up inside and out?
It is not easy to become what one is, to rediscover one’s deepest measure. — Albert Camus
It is not always what we expect it will be. Sometimes we need to dig deeply and shed many layers of shoulds, woulds, and coulds, before we reach the bedrock of who we are.
Twilight reflection
For the child born with a disability, person who doesn’t fit into our cultural set of expectations, victim of a horrible accident, and person suffering from addiction or chronic illness, what is a life worth living?
[We must] be happy with our friends, in harmony with the world, and earn our happiness by following a path which nevertheless leads to death. — Albert Camus
We don’t always know. Love tells me that kindness and compassion, small blessings, ordinary miracles, and simply being are enough. Each life, no matter how short or long, no matter the cost or contribution is valuable just because. Each life is a gift. Each life is unique.
What makes your life worth living?
May you walk in beauty.
Golden brown fungi
Late bloomer
Basswood tree family
Fall color
Twilight conservatory
Maple leaves
Golden leaves
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