A friend whose Mom lived to 99 told me about his Mom’s life and how she was healthy and vibrant up to the last week of her life.
Beyond having good genes, what influences made a difference in her life?
I started making a mental list of strong, positive influences on my life, the things that have served me well so far and which I’d do again. Of course saying yes to one thing usually means you’re saying no to something else, something that another person might think has more value, but this is my list. It’s also probably not complete and isn’t in any special order. Here’s the first half of my list:
– Be kind, ethical, and live in an evidence based world was great advice.
– Doing a Vipassana retreat recently was a useful experience that I’m still figuring out.
– I walk a lot. A guy once said, “Why would anyone use a dog walking service? It’s like hiring someone to screw your wife.”
– Evolution is a great for evaluating modern life by using the lens of what and why our ancestors might have done during the previous 300,00 years or so.
– A daily 20-30 minute meditation practice is a positive thing.
-Marrying Tara.
– Knowing Brazilian Jui Jitsu is like having a super power. I wish I’d started BJJ as a kid.
– Some form of weight training, because a stong person is more useful and is harder to kill.
– I love biking in all it’s forms.
– Going to Copenhagen, Denmark in 2013, I saw a country of happy healthy people.
– Rescuing a young pit bull has been rewarding and fun.
– Being born and raised in New Orleans has some cachet and was interesting.
– Later, living for 13 years in Telluride, Colorado, a sweet town in possibly the most beautiful spot in North America, was great.
– Learning to surf is hard but worth every minute.
– The internet provides easy access to information without any gatekeepers.
– “The Whole Earth Catalog” was my internet connection growing up in New Orleans. It was a periscope to the bigger world beyond New Orleans.
– Sex, Why do you think people have sex hundreds of times without any intention of reproducing? Nuff’ said.
– Living in Mexico is great – if I ever get a tattoo, it’ll be of Out lady of Guadalupe, the patron saint of Mexico.