What Matters

Offering Hope

Suddenly my feed is filled with quotes about a life that matters. Hopeful quotes. They present guarded optimism, because a life that matters is based on a core set of beliefs. Our beliefs are as disparate as are our values, but there is common ground.

“What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead,” -Nelson Mandela

Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving," "The important thing is not to stop questioning," and "Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value" -Albert Einstein

Muhammad Ali: 'We spend more time learning how to make a living than we do learning to make a life'

Living a life that matters involves defining your values, nurturing deep relationships, serving others, pursuing passions, practicing gratitude, and living presently to create a positive, lasting impact beyond yourself, focusing on purpose over possessions or superficial success. It's a conscious choice to align your actions with what truly fulfills you, often through service, connection, and overcoming inner critics.

What counts, what makes a difference, is how willing we are to serve one another. A life that matters isn't what we acquire, it is what we've done for the benefit of the community.

Of course, fashioning a meaningful life depends on your core values.

Here are some of mine

 

Qualities like humility, integrity, generosity, and service, promoting justice, peace, and spiritual growth. Key virtues include love, patience, kindness, honesty, and perseverance, forming a moral framework for daily life and relationships.

Live a life that matters

Ready or not, someday it will all come to an end.
There will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours or days.
All the things you collected, whether treasured or forgotten, will pass to someone else.
Your wealth, fame and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance.
It will not matter what you owned or what you were owed.
Your grudges, resentments, frustrations, and jealousies will finally disappear.
So, too, your hopes, ambitions, plans, and to-do lists will expire.
The wins and losses that once seemed so important will fade away.
It won’t matter where you came from, or on what side of the tracks you lived, at the end.
It won’t matter whether you were beautiful or brilliant
Even your gender and skin colour will be irrelevant.
So what will matter?
How will the value of your days be measured?
What will matter is not what you bought, but what you built; not what you got, but what you gave.
What will matter is not your success, but your significance.
What will matter is not what you learned, but what you taught.
What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage or sacrifice that enriched, empowered or encouraged others to emulate your example.
What will matter is not your competence, but your character.
What will matter is not how many people you knew, but how many will feel a lasting loss when you’re gone.
What will matter is not your memories, but the memories that live in those who loved you.
What will matter is how long you will be remembered, by whom and for what.
Living a life that matters doesn’t happen by accident.
It’s not a matter of circumstance, but of choice.
Choose to live a life that matters.

-Anonymous

How does that compare to the man running the country. There is not much in common. In fact, there is nothing in common. There was a time when this did not matter. Those days are gone, for now.

Malignant Narcissism

He would extinguish all hope. Choose a better path.