The Well-Lived Life
I serendipitously came across an interview with Dr. Gladys McGarey recently, at the time, she was 103 years old (almost 104), and had lived an incredible life. She was a holistic physician, writer, educator, co-founder of multiple organizations on top of being a mother of six children. As I listened to an interview where she shared her wisdom and talked about a book she wrote on this, I was curious to read it. Once I started the book, I found that I wanted to pick it up whenever I had a spare moment. It is an easy read, her advice very intuitive and simple, yet there is magic and wisdom in her words that are hard to describe. I felt that I had been in the warm embrace of a loving grandmother by the time I finished the book. She is inspiring and the stories she shares, very relatable even though I am not a physician, have not experienced the kinds of challenges she did as a woman with a career in her era, anc certainly did not live through the Great Depression, World War I and World War II. I wish I could just pass on her words and the way she made me feel in reading that book, but I think you have to experience it for yourself. A few things that stood out to me were:
Flow towards life and when you feel stuck, look for and do the things that give you life, even if they are small, the life energy will flow back to you. As long as you are breathing, you are alive and there is life energy within you, don’t be stagnant, walk towards it.
Don’t fight life, everything is a learning opportunity, no matter how bad or undesirable the situation. Life is about learning, growing and evolving.
We are all pieces of a puzzle and when we haven’t found our place, we feel stuck, not worthy, not right. But if we follow our soul and be fully who we are, i.e. authentic; like a piece of a puzzle, when we find our place, we won’t feel misshapen, we will just click, where we always belonged. Don’t try to be anything but yourself, there is a place in the world where you are meant to be (not necessarily physically, but metaphorically). Just keep going.
Love is everything. Run towards love and there will be no room for fear. Love will heal, love is life energy. This sounds trite, read her chapters on love.
Energy, use it wisely yet wildly, channel it. I loved her chapter on allowing making spaces for miracles and just truly believing that things will work out as they should. There is a great story about building a cow shed in an orphanage for a non-existent cow, and a Thanksgiving dinner that took a lot of faith and a little bit of magic to appear.
There are so many more wonderful lessons and stories, but those are the ones that stood out for me at this moment. The book, her life, her wisdom is a lovely reminder: to live life authentically, go with the ups and downs of life with courage and love, and always look for the silver lining. Perspective is everything and humour goes a long way.
If you are feeling stuck, lost or at a crossroads, I would love to work with you and see how I can help. Please send me a message and let's connect. Namaste.