Counting the Marbles of Your Life- Part 2
When thinking about just how short life is, the two biggest things that come to mind are in regards to 1). the fulfillment of our hopes and dreams and 2). how well our we’ve done at prioritizing the “most important things.”
If you want to get a kick in the pants about the importance of getting busy on the journey towards your dreams, read part 1 of the post here.
Today’s post is about peace & love: whether our day-to-day priorities are really matching up to our priorities on paper.
Most of us have been asked at one time or another- by a counselor, a coach, a pastor, a motivational speaker– to list and rank the top priorities of our life. My guess is our lists look pretty similar. I’m not sure what falls at places 3-10 on your top 10 list, but my guess is that we all rank Family either 1 or 2, (if you have a strong spiritual life, the one thing that might take precedence over family is God, but it’s a close call for most of us).
I don’t know a lot of pastors personally, but what I do know about them is that they get to spend a lot of time with dying people. They have had many more opportunities to hang out with people on their death bed than most of us have had, and from these unique experiences I believe we can learn a lot.
Think of life as a terminal illness, because if you do you will live it with joy and passion, as it ought to be lived. – Anne Quinden
Pete Wilson, a pastor and author of Plan B says this, “Dying people almost always talk about how they finally ‘get it’ They understand they’ve spent way too much of their lives worrying about things that weren’t worth worrying about and fearing things that just weren’t worth fearing. They usually long to have those moments of life back.”
What moments do they want to have back? The ones they spent worrying and fearing. So close to the end they wish they could have a do-over on those particular minutes when the mortgage that couldn’t be paid seemed to unravel them; when the vacation that had to be cancelled seemed to crush them; when the school or the job that denied them seemed to define them . If they could, they would go back and spend those moments drastically differently.
Why? Because they realized that worry and fear did nothing to rescue them, equip them or transform them for the better. It was a fog that, like Earl Nightingale said, kept them from seeing things as they really are. Their priorities on paper were family and health, but the kind of fears and worries that occupied their mind revealed that power/influence/control/material means/financial stability took precedence in their day.
These people are us. How do your daily preoccupations measure up to the deepest priorities of your life? Is there a disconnect? If so, whachya gonna do ’bout it?
How many of the days of your life are covered by this fog? How many marbles are you automatically discarding?
Take a look at Earl Nightingale’s estimate of what most people worry about.
- Things that never happen: 40 percent. That is, 40 percent of the things you worry about will never occur anyway.
- Things over and past that can’t be changed by all the worry in the world: 30 percent.
- Needless worries about our health: 12 percent.
- Petty, miscellaneous worries: 10 percent.
- Real, legitimate worries: 8 percent. Only 8 percent of your worries are worth concerning yourself about. Ninety-two percent are pure fog with no substance at all.
Source: The Essence of Success by Earl Nightingale. Edited by Carson V. Conant.
It’s uncanny how clear people on their death bed seem to see. Why or why do we wait to don their perspective?
What worries are you being bothered about right now? Imagine yourself old, looking back on your life. What advice would you share with yourself?
Here is my fog:
I worry that my passions won’t “catch” in the real world and I’ll always struggle trying to make a living doing what I love.
My “wise self” advice:
I’m proud of your courage. I’m proud of you pursuing the dreams that have not guarantees. You will not exit out of this world with “what ifs” still hanging…and that is worth much more than an IRA. ”
I would love for you to share both your worries and “wise self” advice with us below. Below our worries, deep within us, there is lot of wisdom to share.
P.S. Don’t forget to read Part 1 of Counting the Marbles of Your Life on hopes & dreams, if you missed it last week.
