John Y’s Musings from the Middle: Longevity

The older I get the more I realize that the most important purpose of longevity isn’t being given the opportunity to  accomplish more so I may want less —but rather being given the opportunity to forgive more so that I might judge less.

Life experience disappointingly fails to provide us with a growing insight into how uniquely superior we are to others.

And instead instructs us about how very …similar we are to those around us –and how capable we are of doing ourselves the things we fear the most and disdain most loudly.

This awareness is usually diverted before it arrives and we write it off as something foreign and separate from us.

If we can instead embrace these seemingly unsavory parts of ourselves and learn from them we are then able to replace shame with wisdom –and judgment with understanding.

And anxiety with joy.