Tell me, what else should I be doing?

This week, my dear friend SB mentioned these two lines from Mary Oliver’s poem The Summer Day:

Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
– Mary Oliver

I instantly recognized this query as one threading through my thoughts over recent months—with a twist.

My query, rather than retrospective, is both present and forward-looking:

Tell me, what else should I be doing?
Doesn’t everything die at last and too soon?

In which case—is this of value? Does this matter, or that?
What would matter most to my children when I’m gone?
What matters most to me, right now? In the fullness of life? And in future, to have accomplished, to have spent precious time on?

The last of the Five Remembrances is “My only true possession is my actions,” or another translation says, “I am the heir to my actions.”

Clearly, what we actually do is, in a way, of great if not utmost importance. 

Is the mundane okay? Or does it need to be utterly spectacular to be worthy of the best life can be, or the best I have to offer?

My current opinion

I’m finding a task well done and lived fully in the moment, is enough. A kind word shared with another person. My modest monthly contribution to the World Food Program. Offering metta on the bus. Laughing and celebrating with friends and family. Mentoring and supporting people in need. Writing from the heart and shining light on nourishing resources via Mindful News!

For me, a good life means shining light wherever I can, whenever I can. Living with an open heart. Living with gratitude for the moments of life—remembering to be aware—whether mundane or sublime.

Living with loving awareness of all the moments at dawn and dusk, with dear friends and family, with sangha and even with people and beings I don’t know.

Thank you!

Love,
Jo

Photo by Holly Booth