“The best life is the one in which the creative impulses play the largest part and the possessive impulses the smallest.” – Bertrand Russell
Today marks six and one-half decades around the sun.
Happy 65th birthday, gPage, from Majorca, Spain. As I write this morning, overlooking the beautiful Cala Fornells beach from the hotel lobby by the same name, I think of Bertrand Russell’s quote. How do we better live from a place of creative impulses versus from a place of possessive impulses?
Today also marks week four of the launch of my website, ‘every gPage Singletary thing’ at www.gpagesingletary.com.
September 2024 was my target launch date.
This month is the 14th anniversary of the first Nugget (from Dad), a family blog I started when our oldest daughter left the nest for university. I accumulated over 1500 morning inspirational notes for my three daughters during that time.
- Make it a Great Monday (attitude)
- Stay Whole Tuesday (wholeness)
- Woman Power Wednesday (self-belief)
- Make Anything Thursday (learn and grow)
- Fit as a Fiddle Friday (stay fit)
And I turn 65 this month. So, the time is nigh to put some longer-form writing projects out into the world and see what happens. If not, those projects might end up like Old Yeller behind the barn, and that is not what I want.
One project I am excited about is called RELEVANCE: From Beginning to End.
How do you find and enjoy a place of purpose when you start your career, throughout your career, and when you stop ‘working’ and use your wisdom, resources, and skills to give back to the world? You don’t have to settle for doing things you do not enjoy.
RELEVANCE, like a tree with deep roots and expansive branches, represents growth, stability, and the spreading of wisdom and resources.
I love my tree for my future book cover, illustrated by the talented Pixeleiderdown at 99designs. Be sure to check out my RELEVANCE case studies here. Please let me know of others living from this same place in their ‘giving-back’ years, as I am looking to add additional RELEVANCE case studies.
Lately, it feels like I am living from a place of creative impulses. Perhaps even more so since we sold our home in Austin, TX and moved our possessions (furniture, art, stuff) into a storage unit. We renewed our work visas in the UK and plan to continue living abroad for the foreseeable future in a beautiful but tiny garden flat with modest furnishings and a much simpler lifestyle. We don’t have a car. Walking, biking, uber-ing, or taking trains everywhere we need to be. We purchase and only prepare the food we eat daily. In short, the simpler life equals a better life.
Now that the project has launched, how do I feel?
- I succeeded at creating a site that will allow me to accomplish my larger (more significant) objectives. (More on these objectives in a future post.)
- I am grateful for my daughters and, most notably, my wife, who encouraged, supported, understood, and cheered me onward.
- I am grateful for the support and brilliant insights of my therapist, Dr Emma Kay, and my business and creative coach, Shereen Hoban. I engaged both to get guidance on this project and other challenges that came my way.
- Lastly, I am grateful for my company, Autodesk, where we help the world Make Anything, more efficiently and with less waste. This letter from ‘the future’ says it all!
[About Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)]
- A British philosopher, logician, and mathematician
- One of the founders of analytic philosophy
- A Nobel laureate in Literature (1950)
- Known for his work in mathematical logic and set theory
- An influential writer on social and political issues
- A prominent anti-war activist and advocate for nuclear disarmament
- Author of numerous books, including “Principia Mathematica” and “A History of Western Philosophy”
