The Great Life List

Wow, what a week I had. I had the hell scared out of me when the doctor told me I had liver cancer! Not a fun beginning of the week, to say the least. But, after a super intense week of blood tests, several scans, and having a camera look around at my insides, the doctors concluded that, in fact, I didn’t have a diseased liver! Yay team! But yeah, wow, what a huge mental change and difference that made in my brain.

Yes, I know, I am 74 years old now and I won’t live forever, but this big-time scare has motivated me to use what time I do have to its best use. Not just for me, but for my family, friends, and even strangers. I think I’ve been giving back but I know there is so much more that can be done.

All of us humans get the same 168 hours a week, but the key to success in helping yourself and others is in how we choose to spend those hours. I know I’ve said this before but it’s worth repeating: To make sure you get more done each day, set goals and be sure to write them down. I hope you are doing this. It is not enough just to set goals. If you are like me – and I think most people are – when you write an objective, task, or goal down, your brain pushes you harder to make sure you complete that task!

My recent big-time scare has motivated me to make a list of what I learned from it. What is really important in this very short life is to raise our spirits, happiness levels, and contentment with life and living.

Here’s what I came up with.

1. Mental and physical pain can be a great life teacher.
2. Place the highest value on LOVE.
3. “There is more to life than increasing it’s speed.” – Mahatma Gandhi
4. The biggest most challenging things can be the more rewarding.
5. Slow yourself down and bask more in the pleasure of living.
6. Pause and take time to appreciate the right now moment.
7. Meditate, even for just 10 minutes a day.
8. “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent” – Eleanor Roosevelt
9. Go ahead and fake confidence even when you are not confident.
10. Lift your happiness and relaxation levels by getting organized.
11. Get outside daily and study and observe the sky, the clouds, and your surroundings.
12. Exercise daily even by just walking or strolling; maybe hike or jog in new places.
13. Surround yourself with diverse people and spend more time with family and friends.
14. Take time to document a special trip or occasion with photos and even write a short story about it.

I do hope that this list will help you as much as it has helped me. I find that by thinking about these kinds

of things and then writing it all down cements it more deeply in my mind. I am going to push myself to

revisit the list from time to time. I hope you will revisit this, or your own similar list, on a regular basis as well.