Our One Wild and Precious Life
Sometimes – often - I feel thankfully clear about what I want my life’s work to be about. Especially in this season of my life, when I have more freedom to spend my time and energy on things I want to do. I choose to practice and teach meditation, I choose to shepherd my upcoming book into the world, and I choose to nurture friends and family. It is my deepest intention to live a life that supports the most essential well-being of others, and I do all these things with deep joy and satisfaction.
And yet, some days, I wake up in a state of bewilderment. Is this, in fact, what I should be doing? Is this my legacy, the mark I should be leaving on anyone who may notice it? Am I genuinely living into my highest intention? Deep down, I know and trust that I am, so why the moments of disorientation, of suddenly being out at sea on a clumsy raft?
Maybe it’s my mortality sneaking closer every day. Although, of course, this is an illusion; we know that death could arrive on any given day. But whatever my remaining runway is, it has recently begun to feel quite a bit shorter. Today that feeling of its shortness takes my breath away. It makes me question every action, every decision, no matter how small. Do this or do that – how much does it matter? It compels me to wonder: am I doing enough – can I ever do enough?
I’m reminded of these famous lines from Mary Oliver:
“Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
With your one wild and precious life?”
Her questions - and my occasional bewilderment - invite me to check my calibration, my alignment with my highest intention, my North Star; to check in with myself and ask and re-ask:
Who and how do I want to be in my life? What is it I want to do with my one wild and precious life?
And then, I sit and listen. And see how well my life is aligning with the answer.
What does the question stir in you: “What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
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