There are some really good people in the world.
We lost two well known really good people this past week.
I’ve been watching a lot of news lately because I don’t really know what to do with my television when my husband isn’t playing video games or we’re not catching up on Breaking Bad on our Netflix account, and since the poor guy has been in the field for training in single-degree temps this past week, I have free reign of the remote. We have the very minimum for cable, so I usually just keep it on a news channel, which is where I learned about the lives of the men who are no longer with us.
Paul Walker and Nelson Mandela were famous for very different reasons, but they share a common thread. They are both being remembered for being great, humble, passionate, inspiring, generous men. It made me think about life and death, and a little exercise that I read about somewhere that asked you to write your own eulogy. As morbid as that sounds, it’s a great way to encourage yourself to lead a better life. What do you want to be remembered for? Who do you want to be remembered by?
The answers to these questions will say a lot about what is important to you, and what you should be focusing on in this life. You may not want the whole world to mourn your death, and have every news channel do a story about your life, or maybe you do. Maybe you want to be remembered for being a great mother, or teacher, or businessman, or athlete. Maybe you want to be remembered for your work in your community, or for your volunteer efforts, or for your writing or cooking. I doubt that you want to be remembered for the minutes you spent playing video games, or the amount of naps you took. Definitely not for being rude, mean, selfish, or greedy. . . .am I right?
Whatever it is, let this exercise inspire you to lead a better life. Do more good. Hug more people. Be generous and be kind.
The stories that were coming out about Paul Walker anonymously purchasing an engagement ring for a service member who just returned from Iraq, or seeing all of the powerful quotes from Nelson Mandela, really made me want to go out there and do something good. A quote from The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho describes it perfectly:
“That’s what Alchemists do. They show us that, when we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.”
It’s men like that, with stories like those, that can make the world a better place by inspiring more people to do more good.
What kind of story do you want to leave behind? Who do you want to inspire to be better?
YOGA with MINDY 