in New Zealand's Northland. Tauranga Bay is one of the most beautiful places on the planet, near the entrance to the famed Whangaroa Bay.
For some reason I decided to write My Life Priorities. The words that follow here were written in less than one hour without faltering, altering or editing.
I haven't desired to change anything since.
Until today it has been a very personal and private document and few people have seen it.
And now the time seems right to share my most important life priorities with you.
I choose to have in my life.
A beautiful, simple, serene, harmonious environment in which to live, play and work.
One that is safe and warm, that gives me pleasure to be in. That nourishes me and is essential to my spiritual being. One that honours me and one that is surrounded by nature.
I choose to have in my life.
The essentials to care for my body, health, mind and soul. Good food, music, literature and a few well chosen friends.
I choose to have in my life.
The means and the options to communicate with any other should I desire.
I choose to have in my life.
Goals that are achieved by adhering to the philosophy of 'If I don't need it, I don't need to go to work to earn the money to buy it'.
That less is more for me. And that success is not what one has but can love living without.
I choose to live the way Thoreau described when he said ' I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately, to front only the essentials of life and to see if I could not learn what it had to teach. And not, when it cam time to die, discover I had not lived.
I choose to have in my life.
The most valuable currency of all. Time.
Some of it spent in solitude and as much as possible to do whatever I wish to do as slowly as I wish to do it. I am in no hurry to pursue the end of my life.
I choose to have in my life.
The love of a woman, who, will not only be able to share much of my life philosophy but practically too, the things that are important to me. A person whose life I am able to enhance and who is able to enhance mine.
I choose to have in my life.
Enough. And that is what I have.
I choose to have in my life.
The means to achieving my real obligation. To fulfilling my own personal destiny.
I choose to have in my life.
The strength and honesty to be true to myself.
Keith
What a great list of priorities and I believe that you accomplished most, if not all, of them.
ReplyDeleteAmen!
ReplyDeleteIt is a pleasure to read your blog today, Keith. I believe the beautiful country you are living in is an advantage to complete some of your priorities. To be able to describe your life priorities as you do is most valuable. The thought comes to me - what if we start with the children in school? To let them do the same - write about the values in their life - and let them reflect over them from time to time during their school life. Would they be more open-minded, having more compassion with others - and perhaps themselves? Would the world see more love and less fundamentalism?
ReplyDeleteI've heard worse " declarations of independence "
ReplyDeleteanglo
Your are a visionary..... Living our dream, good for you, and your spreading it by being you & your blog content influences too. Power to the people, we need more people like you Keith. Namaste.
ReplyDeleteYou articulated so well what I think a lot of us who read your posts feel but have, perhaps, not taken the time to really make it concrete as you have. At least, that's what I think and feel. Well done and thank you.
ReplyDeleteI'm a day late reading but could not agree with you more. .Money is just a tool an you can not ware but one pair of shoes at a time .Wonderful world when your free an take the time to see it as you have.
ReplyDeleteNow THAT'S a bucket list to be proud of!!
ReplyDeleteGreat list of priorities - really inspiring. For myself, I have yet to attain the first: a beautiful, harmonious place in which to live. It seems to me you lead quite an enviable life.
ReplyDeleteI particularly agree with your assessment of the value of time. Time is life itself; and in my case, as Jose Arguelles put it, time is art.