The science writer Oliver Sacks learned a few weeks ago he has terminal liver cancer. He wrote about it with his usual straightforward elegance in a short piece published in yesterday’s New York Times.
Your Friday challenge is to find 10 minutes in your day today to pause and read his piece. Then make a plan for doing something this weekend that expresses your gratitude for the enormous privilege and adventure of being a sentient being, a thinking animal, on this beautiful planet.
It will take you 3 minutes to read the piece, leaving 7 minutes to plan what thing – small or large, modest or grand – you’re going to do this weekend. Sacks mentions that he can now see his life “as from a great altitude.” If it helps – and I think it will – climb up on something tall with your broomstick and put yourself into the bottom of an overhead squat. Push your knees out, pull your chest tall. Then make your plan for your expression of gratitude for your one wild and precious life.
To earn a point for your team, let us what you plan to do. Because, well, so long as you’re doing QF92, part of the adventure of being on this beautiful planet is to earn points.
19 responses to “Fri. – 2/20 A different kind of challenge”
researchjen
February 20th, 2015 at 15:04
I am going to spend the evening with my parents at the lake because I believe in the value and necessity of interdependence for sentience and right now we need each other
Cindy Lutenbacher
February 20th, 2015 at 15:51
I plan two things:
1) Complete a poem
2) Stand on my deck, naked in the rain
Roan
February 20th, 2015 at 17:53
❤
Roan
February 20th, 2015 at 17:52
Yes to what Jen said. On the flip side of that same coin, I’m taking a solo adventure on sunday, somewhere in nature. To unplug enough to deeply connect with my spirit and sentience.
Chris
February 20th, 2015 at 18:02
I’m going to practice being open, loving and authentic with everyone I come across.
❤
efiada77
February 20th, 2015 at 18:49
I work 2nd shift so watching a sunrise is a rarity for me and I felt an abundance of gratitude and humility being able to see both sunrise & sunset on a driving trip Wednesday. As a continuation of this connection to spirit with this fantastic challenge, I’m going to do be intentional about spending more time repairing my relationship with my big sister & thank my mother & my late father for giving us to each other.
Holiday
February 20th, 2015 at 18:57
I am going to write a poem about the beautiful, unique and anointed experience of living a life within multiple genders. The amalgamation of personhoods. The confluence of injecting testosterone on the same day that your estrogen levels are highest as your menstrual cycle starts. This sacred journey of being two-spirit and trans*.
Extra points for #teamhotdamn if I post the poem?? 😉
KungLi
February 20th, 2015 at 19:23
Yes, extra point for any posted poems!
Cindy Lutenbacher
February 20th, 2015 at 20:47
So…does my poem from last Sunday get a point? 🙂
KungLi
February 20th, 2015 at 20:57
Retropoint, yes!
Cindy Lutenbacher
February 20th, 2015 at 20:27
Awesome, Day. You are, that is.
eunicehcho
February 20th, 2015 at 19:38
This was a really hard article to read, mostly because I’m in the process of watching my mother go through a similar transition. It made me think what fortune it is to know that you are truly loved and that you have lived a good life when you pass. So my (continued) task is to tell my mom in as many ways I can that we all love her.
KungLi
February 20th, 2015 at 20:33
Thank you for sharing, Eunice.
Empish Thomas
February 20th, 2015 at 21:15
This article was very moving as he shared coming to terms with the ending of a life with such grace and strength. I like the way he prioritized the things that are important. My plan is to call and talk to two people that I love and have not spoken to in a while-my grandmother who is almost ninety and a very close friend that I have known for over twenty years.
msullivan574
February 20th, 2015 at 21:49
I am going to send my cousin his long over due birthday present. We are super close and I have not been prioritizing him but this is a good reminder to take the time for acts of kindness.
Glo
February 20th, 2015 at 23:19
Thanks to everyone who has shared. And thank you for the reminder to be grateful for today. I’m going find opportunities to be of service to someone else.
Monica
February 21st, 2015 at 01:02
I am not going to waste my time. I’m going to use my time to do things that are meaningful and fulfilling for myself and others.
Cecilia
February 21st, 2015 at 02:04
It was a romantically, pensive, graceful read. I am planning on reconnecting with new & old friends and being grateful that they are still there & present despite the time and distance.
BT
February 21st, 2015 at 09:29
After reading this. I spent most of my night thinking about priority. “Don’t make someone a priority in your life when they only make you an option”. I need to correct this in my life. I am blessed to have many who work to connect to me and I need to work harder to return that favor. So I will be intentional and set dates to meet with friends, get to know others who I admire, adore, wonder about and feel commonality with….. I already have 2 dates this week and will keep that practice.