What Will You Do With Your One Wild and Precious Life?

JT - Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life

“What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” ~ Mary Oliver

I imagine you have read that quote or maybe even been inspired by it. However, after reading it – did anything change in your life?

Did it inspire you to take a step towards your dreams? Or fully commit to something that you have been putting off for a while?

Don’t worry, you are not alone.

Me either.. until I read the full poem from where the quote came from.

The Summer Day by Mary Oliver

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
~ MAry Oliver

The two lines of the poem that really inspire me are – “Tell me, what else should I have done? Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?”

Yes, the idea that my life is precious appeals to me, however it is the reminder of those two lines that are inspiring me to take action, follow my dreams and live more deeply NOW.

Every day life is being lived (consciously or unconsciously), right here, right now. NOW is truly all we have.

Are you truly honouring yourself and your NOW’s?

The Time You Have

If you are not truly honouring your NOW’s, maybe the following snippet can help serve an a reminder…

How Much Time Do You Have?

Ready for some math? As I write this, I am 43 years old.

Thanks to my family history, my diet and health, I will probably live to about 85 years of age (although my grandma is currently 102).

Subsequently, that is approximately another 40 years give or take.

40 years x 52 weeks/year = 2,080 weeks x 7 days/week = 14,560 days x 24 hours = 349,440 hours

Oh my gosh – 349,440 hours!!!

Yes, I have approximately 349,440 hours left in my life. And that number decreases by 24 hours each day. No day and no one is exempt from this fact.

Each day you also get to choose how you spend, invest or waste your time.

Does realising this cause a shift in perspective?

It did for me and now life suddenly seems more precious and I am valuing the time I have.