The subtitle of Hugh Mackay’s excellent book, A Good Life, the above question often comes to my mind. is it our relationships, our experiences, our career or all of them combined. There is a lot of talk about striking a balance between our working and personal life – I find this amusing as to me , it is all part of our lives. As it’s all our life, this means that it is difficult to draw a distinction between the way we behave at work and the way we behave in our social and family lives. I am me, wherever I happen to be, whoever I happen to be with, and whatever I happen to be doing. That’s one meaning of integrity: Integrating our values with every aspect of our lives. If you want to know what your values are, you need to see the whole picture.

What words have been written about leading a good life, they are from across the ages:

1. In the Arab world, Khalil Gibran is regarded as a literary and political rebel. His romantic style was at the heart of a renaissance in modern Arabic literature, especially prose poetry, breaking away from the classical school. In Lebanon, he is still celebrated as a literary hero.

A member of the New York Pen League, he is chiefly known in the English-speaking world for his 1923 book The Prophet, an early example of inspirational fiction including a series of philosophical essays written in poetic English prose. The book sold well despite a cool critical reception, gaining popularity in the 1930s and again especially in the 1960s counterculture. He is the third best-selling poet of all time, behind Shakespeare and Lao Tzu.

2. I met a woman on the weekend who makes me smile, I’m finding it very difficult to not be a grinning Cheshire cat: You’re never fully dressed without a Smile.

3. You get to declare what has been a good life.

4. In 1968, The New York Times television critic Jack Gould called Rivers “quite possibly the most intuitively funny woman alive”. The first women to host a TV talk show Joan lived her life to the fullest up to her death in 2014: Being Alive.

5. And like everybody is watching, your heart has been broken, as if you are on stage, and as though you have been through hell. We need the shadow and the light.

6. The world’s most famous cigar smoker, Winston was Named the Greatest Briton of all time in a 2002 poll. His life was spent in servitude to the British people: Giving Myself.

7. Remember how great life was when we believed in Santa, you can still do it!!

8. One of the great screen actors, Cary occupied himself for 3 decades on the big screen, He is remembered by critics for his unusually broad appeal, as a handsome, suave actor who did not take himself too seriously: Sing, Sing, Sing.

9. How much time do you spend trying to understand? How much time would you have if you spent it getting everybody else to understand it as well, Live Life!!

10. The number Seven is very prominent in all the worlds major religion, for example in Islam there are Seven heavens and Seven gates to hell. This is a useful  list of Seven to lead a good life: Perfect Peace.

 

11. Great question, would it?

12. We almost, always never know a persons whole story, think that what they offer us is the best they can do at that very moment: All of Me.

13. Have I found them, Maybe!!

14. Step onto your path – Follow your heart. Be true to yourself, and ask yourself often what it is you want to be doing, as opposed to what it is you should be doing: Live your Dreams.

15. Now this sounds like a good life to lead!!

Our commitment to the good life is tested by our response to circumstances in which it is hard for us to live up to the Golden Rule – Do to others what you want them to do to you – one of Jesus of Nazareth’s great teachings.

Music goes from cabaret to pop divas to inspirational: Sia, Neil Patrick Harris, Jennifer Hudson, Cary Grant, Laura Story, John Legend and George Domanian.

Namaste until next time, my dear friends.