Category: Feeling Fulfilled

Don’t worry so much about living a good life…

And focus more exclusively on living a good day.

Think of “good” in terms of what would make your 8-year-old self smile and your 80-year-old self feel proud.

Working your body to the bone might be great for the retirement that’ll cover your living expenses when you’re 80… but your 8-year-old self is going to be bored and upset.

Ignoring worldly responsibilities and chasing pleasure after pleasure might make your 8-year-old self laugh and cheer… but your 80-year-old self is going to struggle and frown.

Live your life in balance of these two “guardian angels.”

Work hard; play hard.

Or maybe better said: work smart; play smart.

Laying your head on your pillow at the end of a well balanced day, where both of your guardian angles are smiling and calm… is almost certainly a fool-proof way to make it to your final laying… smiling and calm.

I don’t understand a lot of poetry I read.

And I think many times, it’s because meaning is encoded. And decoding doesn’t just happen after one pass of the words.

There’s an intentionality with just about everything in poetry. From specific word choice, to word count per line, to line length, to rhythmic structure, to breaks/punctuation/capitalization, and so on…

In other words: what poetry might be missing in length, it adds in encoded depth.

And to the most careful and keen of readers… that depth may be uncovered and enjoyed in full.

And to those who give the poem a once-over, scratch their head, and simply move on with their day… confusion will be what they’re left full of.

And you know what…?

It feels to me that the same is very much true for life…

P.s. Trying to decode some meaning? You can check out my poems here.

There’s the thrill of a roller coaster… and there’s the thrill of hearing someone say, “I love you”—in an I see you kind of way.

There’s the thrill of buying the latest luxury item… and there’s the thrill of walking barefoot in the sand—free of desire.

There’s the thrill of sexual pleasure… and there’s the thrill of sitting in a rocking chair, next to a life partner, reflecting on the pleasures of having done life with them.

I hope you get to experience both in life.

And maybe even more so, I hope when the time is right, you’re able to move from the former in the above examples, to the latter.

Because it’s the latter… yes… it’s the latter, indeed… that holds a depth to the thrill that even the highest roller coaster drop could never compare.

In the same way that a good book leaves you wondering at the end of a chapter or a good TV series leaves you pretending not to know what time it really is so you can stay up just a little later to watch just one more episode…

…Fill your life with cliff hangers.

Those creative projects you’re working on? Stop before you’re finished and/or keep expanding on what you’ve already built.

Those interesting/wonderful people who bring out the best in you? Keep initiating and accepting invitations—even if it’s just for a short visit. Never underestimate what any amount of time spent with interesting/wonderful people can do for the plot of your story.

Those travel destinations and worldly experiences that make you giddy? Keep confirming plans for them. You should always have something you can look forward to booked in your calendar.

Fill your tomorrows with excitement, wonder, and unsatisfied curiosity.

…Make your life the TV show you can’t seem to stop watching or the book you just can’t seem put down.