This morning I got a bracing reminder to live life now.
I am visiting my parents at their retirement community in Connecticut and I just had the pleasure of riding the elevator with James, 93-years old, still walking with a lively step.
While the elevator descended, he told the young whippersnapper, 33 years his junior, what he said was the most important thing he had learned about growing old: “Do what you love while you still can.”
His great dream had been to see the Opera in Venice. He had never gotten around to it, and now feels it is beyond his reach.
While this might have encouraged me to “get working on my bucket list,” it did not have that effect on me. Instead it made me want to do what I love every day. I have learned from my Zen practice that when I find joy in the everyday, I discover even greater joy when I go on an adventure, because the adventure is not a compensation for, or a relief from, a joyless and anxious life.
Today’s newsletter is a short reflection about satisfaction and meaning in work.
If you would like a guide to help you initiate change to more fulfilling work — in your current work or a new one — send me your information in this short form, and we’ll set up a chat. In my experience, a guide is essential …. without one, you’ll take 5 or 10 years to realize what you can discover in three months. Of course, if that’s your path, that’s your path, but as James pointed out, life truly is short.
Relatedly …. my stepdaughter Izzy has taken to shouting “YOLO! just before she makes a bold move, like asking a boy to the prom (he accepted). Maybe it’s only us “hyper-adults” between the ages of 16 and 93 who have a problem with this.
As always, thank you for supporting the newsletter.
Take care,
Paul
Do What You Love Now
"In today’s complex society, we have lost touch with the knowledge of how to use our abilities to lead effective and meaningful lives…. It is our nature as human beings to be satisfied and fulfilled. Work gives us the opportunity to realize this satisfaction by developing the true qualities of our nature." - Tarthang Tulku, The Gift of Work
The feeling of satisfaction and fulfillment in work is our natural birthright.
Read that again…. What’s the feeling in your body when you take those words in deeply?
If you do not have some level of contact with this feeling *every day* in your work, you need to make a change. It may be a shift within your current role, it may be a change of environment, or it may be a whole new path. Today is the first day of the rest of your life. And not one day is guaranteed.
As much as I hate to admit it, I agree with the Tibetan Buddhist teacher's words. Most people today are challenged to lead fully effective and meaningful lives. It took me decades to enlist my abilities in full service to my values.
The feeling of dissatisfaction is pervasive, and it's nobody's “fault.” It's not a personal failing, nor is it the fault of the tech industry, the financial sector, international geopolitics, "capitalism," our parents, or society at large.
Instead, it’s a function of a complex system that focuses more on what we can do, with little sense of what we should do.
Science and technology continue to expand our realm of possibilities. However, they offer no guidance on the realm of the meaningful. (Have you seen the movie Oppenheimer? It’s all about this!)
Meaning is the province of spiritual traditions, which have faced significant challenges over the last few centuries (mostly resulting from their own institutional failings.)
And yet, without a spiritual framework, we default to finding meaning in the internalized values of our families and society.
I am not suggesting that everyone should follow an established spiritual tradition, and certainly not an established religion. But I do believe that everyone is well-served by establishing a conscious context for their lives that includes their deepest values and aspirations for themselves, their relationships, and their work.
That is a spiritual framework.
In our quest for a fulfilling life, we can strive to integrate our values and aspirations into everything we do. By doing so, we can navigate the complexities of modern society and find genuine meaning and effectiveness in our lives.
Warm regards,
Paul
Image by Pexels from Pixabay.