Happy Sunday Everyone:
I had it in my head most of the week I was going to write about multitasking. Then yesterday, while visiting Jack in Tucson, I came across a quick clip of a 101-year-old man. The gal interviewing him was talking about lessons of his life, then he said something most of us have probably heard before “yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift, enjoy it”. Then he started crying (I know, a lot of crying these past two weeks).
Time creates perspective. So, when I see a 101-year-old man giving me advice to consider, I listen to it, I think about it, and hopefully I act on it. When people are nearing the end of this life and they have advice for us, it’s worth some serious contemplation on what thoughts they deliver to us. One of the smarter things I’ve ever done in my life was interview my Grammie before her 100th birthday. At the time she was still living at home, doing yoga daily, involved in two books clubs, studied Jungian psychology and walked around her neighborhood daily. She was the most enlightened person I’ve ever known. In large part because she never stopped growing, she never stopped studying life. She never stopped having gratitude for every experience that came before her.
I wrote about this in 2017 https://www.sundaythoughts.com/interview-of-grammie/ but her thoughts are timeless and I wanted to share them again as they’re more relevant today, for me, than any other time in my life. I think they’re more relevant for our world than at any time in the past! I am the Q, she is the A.
Hi Hunter–These may well not be what you are looking for–this is just me.
Q: What are three things you are most grateful for?
A. The Love from and for my husband, and my family from birth, to the present.
A. All the experiences of my long life, both positive and negative. I have learned and hopefully matured from them as I have accepted them and integrated the lessons learned into my life.
A. My home in a “nature” setting, peaceful and relaxing.
Q. What advice would you give your younger self?
A. Put forth your best effort in all that you do. Have faith that all is turning out for the best, no matter how it may look on the surface at the time. Sometimes we find out later that something else that developed was better.
Q. What is one thing that turned out to be more important than you realized?
A. The study of child psychology to help with raising a family. That developed into the study of my own human nature and acceptance of all of it. The result: As I accepted all of my self, especially the repressed parts (or my shadow) I found judgmentalism of others fading away, and accepting them for who they are. (not necessarily liking their behavior).
Q. What is one thing that you thought was important, but wasn’t?
A. Status–financially, socially, etc. ( Do not compare yourself to others.)
Q. What advice would you give to the people reading this, now that you’re 100?
A. Be aware consciously of your own highest values and stay true to them, regardless of the cultural values around you.
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From Robert Frost – – -The Road Not Taken
Two roads diverged in a wood, and
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
(It has!) Love you,
Grammie
