Wisdom Week Wrap-Up August 11

Quotes that are food for thought

So many great quotes come out of my conversations with my guests! This is a weekly piece with some words that might just get you thinking.

“It’s like the wind went out of the sails and the gas tank was empty.” -Michael DiPietro

Midlife. It’s that liminal space between the past and the future. It’s a place of dissatisfaction with no clear answer as to why. It’s a place where things tend to fall apart.

So many of us start life aiming to please. We please our parents, our teachers, our peers. We tend to our education , our jobs and our children. Until, one day, we realize we haven’t tended to ourselves in years. Who are we? What happened to that younger version of ourselves that played and dreamed? What do we really want to do with our lives?

But responsibilities don’t allow for such dreams. Or do they?

I think midlife brings up an important urge to get in sync with our souls. A new car or boat, a new spouse or house, just don’t seem to scratch the itch. That’s because the answers lie within. No bauble can answer the soul searching questions that seem to bubble up.

And it’s not just midlife where these issues arise. Retirement, divorce or illness can bring about questions of our identity and value.

Ask yourself. What do you really connect with? What do you truly enjoy? Take some time just for you. It may upset the household apple cart, but it’s ok. Everyone will survive. And for you it may be your chance to thrive.

“Choices that you’ll make that appear reckless to the people around you and to society. But you’re thinking, I don’t care, right? What’s the worst that can happen?”-Lya Badgley

The worst that can happen, according to Lya, is that you die. But she’s already facing that with advancing MS. That has pushed her to keep expanding her world even as her physical capabilities are diminished.

This podcast was very meaningful to me personally. It helped me see my own story of risk taking. I’ve faced disability and death. The former terrifies me, the latter does not. And that has pushed me to take greater risks than many, ranging from flying to traveling and more. I have an intense desire to live now and to be as true to my soul as humanly possible.

What concerns you most: the concept of death or the failure to live your best life?

“How you understand death directly determines how you experience life.”-Mary Neal, MD

This is one of my favorite podcasts of all time. Because Mary asks the question of what if your spirituality was one of trust rather than hope?

Mary is a retired spine surgeon. If you can’t touch it, measure it or weight it, does it even exist? A new death experience kayaking on the Fuy River in South America turned her life upside down and challenged everything she believed in.

Take the time to listen to this podcast. It could be truly life changing for you. And think, if you went from hope to trust, how would that change your life?