I guess you can't really live a life of meaning unless you really think about getting the stuff out of your life that consumes you in a trivial manner. Eliminating the unneccessary. Not all of it, just the things that waste time - like that rerun of Friends that you can't believe you wasted a half an hour of your precious life watching...
Which brings me to the game on my phone - solitare. A mind-numbingly simply game, with no point other than to just waste time. You really don't feel much satisfaction when you realize that you can stack all your cards on the right Aces - but you just keep flipping the cards - at least that's what I've been doing while I've been recuperating.
That was okay when I was too sore to read, or too weak to think, but now it has become a nasty habit. I put myself to sleep with solitare, and if I wake up in the middle of the night because my head hurts or because I'm uncomfortable, I grab my phone and play solitare. I don't even want to think about the number of minutes of my life I've dedicated to this...shameful.
So, tonight, my quest to live a meaningful life will manifest itself in my deleting solitare from my cell phone - before midnight - which means I can play a few more games...
Tomorrow I will go to the library and find the novel that I'm determined to read before classes start on the 12th.
Friday, January 2, 2009
Thursday, January 1, 2009
The First Day
Living meaningfully....
What does that mean? How does one live meaningfully? Purposefully?
My first response was to approach this as having to "do something" to live meaningfully.
Today, though, as I was sitting on the couch feeling the soreness in my head and the tightness of my scalp, holding my daughter on my lap, and soaking in the comfort that she brought, I realized that part of living meaningfully is to recognize the meaning in the ordinary. I don't have to "do" anything particular, but I can recognize the extraordinary in the everyday.
We are human. There are times that we can't, we just can't.
I'm recovering from brain surgery. But I can still live meaningfully by just being aware of my life and the meaning that imbues every corner of it.
What does that mean? How does one live meaningfully? Purposefully?
My first response was to approach this as having to "do something" to live meaningfully.
Today, though, as I was sitting on the couch feeling the soreness in my head and the tightness of my scalp, holding my daughter on my lap, and soaking in the comfort that she brought, I realized that part of living meaningfully is to recognize the meaning in the ordinary. I don't have to "do" anything particular, but I can recognize the extraordinary in the everyday.
We are human. There are times that we can't, we just can't.
I'm recovering from brain surgery. But I can still live meaningfully by just being aware of my life and the meaning that imbues every corner of it.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
The Year of Meaning
What does it mean to create a "Year of Meaning?" Where every day is lived doing some thing, any "thing" that has meaning to it, every day? What will a life not lived with blinders on, not just trodded through look like after a year?
That is what I mean to do this year: live a life full of meaning by doing something meaningful every day.
I have set this space up to record what this year of meaning will look like for me, and to provide a forum to think, write, create, record, photograph, and document in any manner the meaning of being meaningful.
I come to this, as my resolution this year, as a result of just coming through some very challenging times. I have a daughter who was diagnosed with Autism who has journeyed from a point where she could not communicate with the world, to a little girl full of things to say.
I have come from a position of battling her school district about her education, to being their partner as the district's Parent Liaison.
I have returned to school to finish my Master's Degree.
I have begun volunteering to mentor other families with Special Needs through an organization called FACETS.
I have come from a self-focused life-direction, where I worked jobs that did not have meaning for me, to a point where I am driven to join a profession that is focused on helping others.
And I have just had brain surgery.
Living a life of meaning is a reaction to all of this. This space is a place for me to record what I do the year of 2009.
That is what I mean to do this year: live a life full of meaning by doing something meaningful every day.
I have set this space up to record what this year of meaning will look like for me, and to provide a forum to think, write, create, record, photograph, and document in any manner the meaning of being meaningful.
I come to this, as my resolution this year, as a result of just coming through some very challenging times. I have a daughter who was diagnosed with Autism who has journeyed from a point where she could not communicate with the world, to a little girl full of things to say.
I have come from a position of battling her school district about her education, to being their partner as the district's Parent Liaison.
I have returned to school to finish my Master's Degree.
I have begun volunteering to mentor other families with Special Needs through an organization called FACETS.
I have come from a self-focused life-direction, where I worked jobs that did not have meaning for me, to a point where I am driven to join a profession that is focused on helping others.
And I have just had brain surgery.
Living a life of meaning is a reaction to all of this. This space is a place for me to record what I do the year of 2009.
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