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The Gift of Life [DW# 850]

death gratitude Nov 27, 2020
Let us wrap up our series on Momento Mori (remember death) by an expected benefit of the practice of remembering death.
 
Not only can it help us give our best on a day to day basis, science has shown that our "Memento Mori" practice help us cultivate deeper levels of gratitude.
 
Robert Emmons writes in Gratitude Works:
"This recent study found that thinking about one’s own death could make a person more grateful for the life that he or she has. Researchers asked participants to imagine a ‘death’ scenario (do not try this idea at a dinner party) where, trapped in a high rise, they are overcome by smoke and perish in a fire. They were then asked to respond to a series of questions convening their present levels of gratitude. The death reflection condition produced a greater increase in gratitude in comparison to two control conditions. Confronting the possibility of dying may lead a person to realize the accuracy of the British writer G.K....
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Capacities Clamoring to Be Used(DW# 849)

"What one can be, one must be." Abraham Maslow
 
Maslow described the need to self-actualize as real as the need to breathe. In Toward a Psychology of Being, Maslow tells us that we have "capacities" that are "clamouring to be used."

 

"The muscular person likes to use his muscles, indeed, has to use them in order to self-actualize, and to achieve the subjective feeling of harmonious, uninhibited, satisfying functioning which is so important an aspect of psychological health. People with intelligence must use their intelligence, people with eyes must use their eyes, people with the capacity to love have the impulse to love and the need to love in order to feel healthy. Capacities clamor to be used, and cease their clamor only when they are used sufficiently."
 
LOVE this passage. Reminds me of what I want on my tombstone:
 
SPENT. USED UP. PLAYED FULL OUT.
NOT: Full of potential.
 
What capacities do you have within YOU that are clamouring to...
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Momento Mori(DW# 848)

As we mentioned, remembering death can be a powerful way to live our best selves in the present.
 
The Romans had an effective way to remember death at all times.

In the glory days of the Roman Empire, when a general or a warrior would win a big victory, the crowd would cheer and celebrate his return from a successful battle.

During the celebrations, there would be an advisor sitting behind the general. That advisor had only one job and that was to whisper something into the general’s ear.

Can you guess what he would whisper? Would he congratulate the general and celebrate his success?

Nope.

His job was to whisper a variation on a couple themes—either saying "sic transit gloria" or "memento mori."

Sic transit gloria:  Latin for "all glory is fleeting."

Memento mori: Latin for "remember death" or "remember YOU will die".

The wisdom behind this was that appreciating how ephemeral life is and that we will die allows us to

1)    Let go of...

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Let’s stop committing crimes against ourselves(DW# 847)

The failure to live up to our ideal self comes at a great cost.

As Abraham Maslow says in Toward a Psychology of Being:

"The serious thing for each person to recognize vividly and poignantly, each for himself, is that every falling away from species-virtue, every crime against one’s own nature, every evil act, every one without exception records itself in our unconscious and makes us despise ourselves.

Karen Horney had a good word to describe this unconscious perceiving and remembering; she said it "registers." If we do something we are ashamed of, it "registers" to our discredit, and if we do something honest or fine or good, it "registers" to our credit. The net results ultimately are either one or the other—either we respect and accept ourselves or we despise ourselves and feel contemptible, worthless, and unlovable."

People of faith of course call this our conscience, our internal moral compass that guides us towards virtue: it makes us feel good when...

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The Eulogy Exercise Part 2(DW# 846 )

Yesterday we did the Eulogy exercise where we imagined what our loved ones, colleagues and acquaintances would remember about us after we are gone.

It is common for this exercise to bring up some sadness and regret specially if we notice a big difference between what we aspire to be and how we are actually living our lives.

Here’s the thing:

While we are still on this planet, we are in the zone of action, we can still take action to live up to our aspirations.

So here is part two of the Eulogy Exercise:

Step into the future reality of your own funeral. Imagine what you hope others will say about you.

Write down the qualities that are most important to you. Also write down what you wish that they would say. Write down how you would LIKE to be remembered. What virtues would you like your life to stand for?

Think of it as a To-Be List (as opposed to a To-Do list).

 
Keep this list somewhere you can access and review it every single day.
 
Make an intention to...
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The Eulogy Exercise(DW# 845)

Have you started thinking about how you would like to be remembered?

 Steven Covey in his seminal book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People suggests an exercise which can help us get some clarity on our eulogy virtues.

 Here is how I do this exercise:

 Imagine that you walk into a funeral. There’s a casket in the front of the room. You walk up to the casket to see who’s in it. You look inside.

 It’s YOU. It is you who is lying motionless in that casket.

 You realise that you are at your own funeral.

 Feel into that for a moment.

 Look around – who is there?

 What do the people who are present have to say about you? What qualities did they most admire and appreciate in you?

 Are you surprised? Delighted?

 Or Sad? Disappointed? Regretful?

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Speaking of virtue(DW# 844)

A few weeks ago, we spoke of how we can "chisel" our character one virtue at a time.
For today, let us reflect on this concept of living with virtue.
People of conscience and understanding throughout the ages have attempted to live a life of virtue, to have an upstanding character.
 
In modern times, however, the idea of living with virtue seems a bit old fashioned. David Brooks in his excellent book, The Road to Character writes that modern society is obsessed with what he calls "résumé virtues." Your degrees, accomplishments, your title, your social media profile etc.

 

He explains that résumé virtues are important for success of course but they are certainly not the whole picture of living a meaningful life.

 

David tells us we need to focus more on "eulogy virtues"—the stuff that, ultimately, REALLY matters. Eulogy virtues, he explains, are the kind of things that people remember about you after you die, and when your...
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Failing to achieve is not failure(DW# 842)

ambitious goals selfgrowth Nov 17, 2020
If our goals are ambitious and truly outside our comfort zone, we will not achieve all of them.

That is the bad news.

The good news is that persevering towards ambitious projects is valuable for our growth, regardless of whether or not we achieve the specific goals.

I love how Ben Franklin puts it:

"Tho’ I never arrived at the perfection I had been so ambitious of obtaining, but fell far short of it, yet I was, by the endeavour, a better and a happier man than I otherwise should have been if I had not attempted it."

This is the key: that we will be better and happier human beings for having attempted ambitious self-development goals whether or not we achieve our goals.

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Goals versus systems(DW# 841)

Here is your daily dose of Wisdom for Living Your Best Self!Benjamin Franklin set up a system whereby he continued to work on his endeavour of achieving moral perfection.

The way his project was set up reminded me of what Scott Adams says in How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big.

How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big is a great book with lots of wisdom which we shall perhaps explore at another time.

For today, I want to focus on what he says about setting up systems rather than focusing on goals:

"You could word-glue goals and systems together if you chose. All I’m suggesting is that thinking of goals and systems as different concepts has power. Goal-oriented people exist in a state of continuous presuccess failure at best, and permanent failure at worst if things never work out. Systems people succeed every time they apply their systems, in the sense that they did what they intended to do. The goals people are fighting the feeling of...

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