The Good Life - 04/14/2023 - My neighbor’s yard
The woman next door moved her mother out of her garden this week. Her mother died in November, just after we arrived. I never met the mom, only mentions of her from her grown, 40-something year old daughter. They’d lived in the apartment for twenty years and the mother had transformed their simple yard into the most beautiful garden; with flowers and trees, wind-chimes, and a stone birdbath and every sort of tasteful antique yard treasure you can imagine. Mom died like summer—one day suddenly gone. When I learned, I offered my condolences and kept our new friendship and a smile on offer at all times. The neighbor went about her ways, off to work in the morning, back at sundown. And she kept up her society, with her friends visiting on weekends and lots of talk over the garden gate with the neighbors on the street, including me.
Spring came late this year, arriving just last week. And when it did, my neighbor one day walked her entire garden into the community dumpster. I watched her all day carrying antique yard treasures and garden art to throw into the dumpster’s blue maw, tossing these items over the top and gone. It took me a while to realize what she was doing, that she was excising her mother’s memory from her yard and from spring, removing nearly all evidence of that past life, to make room maybe for something new. The garden is empty now like a city park, just lovely plants and grass and flowers coming into bloom, lots of room for spring and something new. Her mother is gone, and now her mother’s garden is gone too. I wonder if my neighbor will even stay?
#GoingAlone#ThatWhichMustBeBorne
The Good Life Meditation is my daily recitation and reminder of personal objectives and principles used in pursuit of a purposeful life in spite of a universe of seeming indifference. Learn more about The Good Life at my website GoingAlone.org or by reading my book Going Alone. And visit our Discord at: https://lnkd.in/gFgfGmY6
OBJECTIVES: 1. Be Always Ready to Die 2. Make Good Use of Time and Resources 3. Develop Good and Sound Life Principles 4. Cultivate Good Emotional Reactions 5. Perform Good Actions 6. Recognize True Limits and Opportunity 7. One Thing Slowly
PRINCIPLES: 1. Principle of War 2. Principle of Reason 3. Homunculus 4. Anchorhold 5. Home of Good and Evil 6. Principle of Purpose 7. Atomic Principle 8. Principle of Nature 9. The Pirate Ride 10. Principle of Maturity 11. Social Principle
12. Principle of Family 13. Public Speaking 14. Temperance 15. Life Will Not Go Well 16. The Horror Show 17. That Which Must Be Borne 18. The Feast of Offal 19. Distraction 20. Agency and The Great Indifference 21. The Best Seat in the House 22. The Restless Man 23. The Path of Wildness 24. The Great Life Adventure 25. The Risk of Avoiding Risk 26. Sin and Damnation 27. Complete Oblivion 28. The Season of Philosophy
29. Scriptwriting 30. Bullseye Aim 31. The Uphill Climb 32. Arena and Utility 33. Nothing IS enough 34. The Principle of Fun
#Stoic #Stoicism #StoicPhilosophy
My name is Kurt Bell.
You can learn more about The Good Life in my book Going Alone.
Be safe... But not too safe.