Book review: a well-lived life
Oh I just learnt that Dr Gladys McGarey only passed away this September; 103 is certainly a well-lived life!
I loved her attitude in her book: alive and a-kicking, not surviving and stagnant. Our generation perceives ourselves as the masters of self-care—but Dr. McGarey says there’s a lot we need to learn about what that really means. I think Juliet Starret says it in a nutshell “You have to do the basics. You can't just biohack the crap out of your life." And Dr McGarey a set of 6 basics for health:
Spend your energy wildly: embrace your life fully to feel motivated every day.
-All life needs to move: move - physically, mentally, and spiritually- to help let go of roadblocks.
-You are here for a reason: finding the everyday "juice" that helps you stay live your life on purpose.
-You are never alone: building a community that's meaningful to you.
-Everything is your teacher: discoveries come from pain and setbacks.
-Love is the most powerful medicine: love yourself--and others--into healing.
Wellness and longevity are work! Neither comes easy and requires daily practice. To live a long and fulfilled life, you must consider the 5 L’s:
5 L’s, she says:
Life itself: “As you pay attention to life itself, life is like a seed. It has a shell around it. It has all the energy of the universe within it,” says McGarey. But life can’t change for the better without being activated by us first.
Love: “Love is the activating factor. It cracks the shell,” she says. “It’s the whole aspect of life as we come into it and take our first breath.” Love feeds into the remaining aspects of what makes life meaningful.
Laughter: “Laughter without love is cruel. It’s mean [and] cold,” McGarey says. “But laughter with love is joy and happiness.”
Labor: “Labor without love is drudgery. ‘I gotta go to work’ or ‘They’re too many diapers,’” she says. “Labor with love is bliss. It’s why a singer sings, why a painter paints, why I became a doctor. It’s what juices you up. It’s what makes you really know: ‘This is who the inner core of me is.’” Pay attention to what drives you, she adds.
Listening: “Listening without love is empty sound,” says McGarey. “But listening with love is understanding.” When you’re able to find people who understand you and what your purpose is, life becomes more fulfilling and you can go on to do the same for others.
To truly care for ourselves, I really loved her secret for health and happiness at every age is “Spend Your Energy Wildly”: be delighted to be alive. Having been thru this exact feeling waking from my brain surgery, the more years I am getting each time around the sun, we should focus less on improving ourselves to death (link), worrying about which biohacks you while doing if you don’t have the basics covered. Stop getting overwhelmed and reading everything you can in being healthy and start front healthy. Knowledge means nothing if you don’t put it into practice. Define your life-style - meals, moves, mindset - daily strategies for sticking your habits.
