47) Make a List of What You Have Endured…

  1. Make a List of What You Have Endured in Life That Has Made You Wiser We have all faced bad news, unpleasant feelings, and true hardship. Like death and taxes, these feelings are inevitable in life. It is actually pretty easy to remember these things, so make a list.

— from The Landing (Death) · Field Guide to Happiness: Finding Happiness in Its Natural Habitat by Barbara Ann Kipfer

In the book

Sit, at least once, in the imagined hospital bed and let it sort the urgent from the trivial. Make the list, too, of everything you have already endured that has made you wiser — it is its own kind of inventory of a life. One woman used her photographer's eye to help people choose the five objects, or five images, that best captured what their life had truly been about; do that for yourself, and then go live so the five are true. — The Landing (Death)

And here is why it all matters in the end. Keep a running list, too, of the achievements you are proud of, adding to it over the years, and another of the hardships you have endured that left you wiser — both are antidotes to the inner critic. Surveys of the very old, asked what they would do differently, return again and again to the same three answers: they would reflect more, they would take more risks, and they would leave a legacy that outlasts them. — The Relationship With Yourself (Traits/Reflection)

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