What is a life well lived to you?
A life well lived is a life shared.
This is coming from someone who doesn’t like sharing. At all.
I share the same way you’re supposed to give up your bus or train seat to an elderly person, or allow others to sample your dish after you’ve had some of theirs, or leave a tip, or drop some change for a homeless person, or pass the mascara.
It’s never voluntary with me.
I share about as willingly as a squirrel dips into its nut stash.
So why do it?
For the feeling that comes after the act. For the way I feel when I am standing on a moving bus/train clutching the handlebars and getting more body heat from my fellow passengers than I have use for, or have a little less food on my plate, or catch the server’s smile turn genuine, or walk away to a chorus of blessings, or wake up to a fresh pinkeye.
It’s a feeling of being a part of something larger than I, of having just swallowed a heaping spoonful from the warm fudge bowl of the universe.
Most of the time, I’m not sure that I’m doing things in a way that signals a life well lived. But in those moments when I share something, material or not, without there being anything in it for me, I feel so happy I could cry, and I know that a life crammed with those moments is a life well lived, a life full of bananas split, loves confessed, doors held open, strollers lifted, bills covered, stories heard, farts ignored, losses embraced, toilet seats put up, beer fridge restocked and babies massaged.
So, in the spirit of sharing, here are a few nuts from my fellow squirrels about what constitutes a life well lived:
Mathew 5:16
In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
A life full of people I want to be around me all the time, my family … Away from any negativity and drama…A life with no regrets and full of integrity, and everything I got is something I deserved …Pretty much a drama-free, honest life with people I love …
Friends, family good times and great Sex.
Hmmmm…life well lived for me is seeing my family happy and healthy. And knowing that ive done things with honesty and integrity. What about you?
One lived loving, being good and always listening to one’s heart! 🙂
My daughter telling me she loves me at her wedding.
Being on my deathbed and knowing that I would do it all over again exactly the same way.
Happiness, health and fear of God.
A life well lived is one where you find (or create) your truth, and follow it tirelessy. Where you surround yourself with people who inspire you open your mind a little more and see and listen to perspectives different than urs without being consumed by them. Yes, that would be it.
Health, God and my husband.
Having family around me and enjoying my time. A thanksgiving dinner, this is a life well lived.
A life spent loving unconditionally and being loved just the same. A life surrounded by family and by people that make you the happiest and care about you the most. Coming to terms with the fact that you may never ‘find’ yourself, but enjoying the perpetual search. A life spent exploring, having new experiences. Ahh.. Too many I could go on forever, but here are the first few things that come to mind.
A balanced one. One where I don’t have to study too much, party too much – a balanced one.
Everything. Everything.
Rebecca Fisseha, Writer. 