Bucket List

February 22, 2024January 17, 2024

While away on a break from writing original posts I thought I’d share some of my favorites with you from the past three and a half years. In mid-March I’ll return with more original posts. Until then, please enjoy these.

I was at our local YMCA recently and came across a sheet laying on the check-out table. It was their version of a summer bucket list containing fifty or so items they were suggesting for summer activities. It was wide ranging, but as you might expect, heavily slanted toward physical health.

I’ve always liked the idea of bucket lists and began my own when I was in high school and have made numerous additions to it over the years. Many of the items have been ‘checked off’ and reading them gives me great pleasure.

A few items have dropped off my list due to spousal veto’s, such as hang gliding and roller blading, as she cites ‘excess ambition and potential physical damage with extensive recuperation time’ as her reasons. I feel compelled to concede, knowing she is no doubt correct.

Other items have been released, most notably, owning a castle on the Rhine. I can perhaps visit a castle on the Rhine, if we go on a European River Cruise, which IS on my bucket list. I think that would be a great substitute, after all the heating bills in the winter must be daunting.

I would love to know what others put on their lists and their reasons for their choices.

I thought I would share a few of mine with you, maybe to get you started on your own or just for a fun read. I split the groupings up into those I’ve already done and those presently on my To Do list.

Experienced

Built a treehouse for our children with my dad.

Laid on a bed of nails (Baltimore Science Museum)

Walked 500 miles between my college (Hartwick) campus and my wife’s campus (State University at Oneonta) over a three year period

Marched in a Parade (as By Scout Den leader)

Blown an Alphorn (Switzerland)

Spent a night in a train car (during camping trip in heavy rain)

Served at a Soup Kitchen

Written a Country Western song for my wife

Helped out after 9/11 (on-site financial support and food supply)

Swam with dolphins (Key Largo)

Sponsoring two children through Compassion (Maria and Sara)

Won a stuffed animal at an Amusement Park

Skied one Black Diamond trail (mostly slid my way down)

Signed up as Organ Donor (unrelated to the black diamond trail)

Bowled over 200 (221)

Scored below 80 in golf (79)

Present Bucket List (some of them)

Attend Special Events: graduations and weddings for our three grandchildren

Hold any great grandchildren born during our lifetime

Participate in the Polar Plunge (Lake George January 2024)

Walk the Rail Trail from end to end and back with Tommy

Extensive Creek Walk with Jenny

Have 50^th Wedding Anniversary party (only one requested gift-each attendee offers 50 memories)

Visit some National Parks (Zion, Bryce, Arches, Antelope Canyon)

Travel to different cities in the US on vacation

Fast for 36 hours

Make deep connections with others

Teach/facilitate a Retreat/Workshop at Kripalu

Write more Little Buddha books (perhaps a total of 10)

Get in touch with old friends

Travel to a country to see the Aurora Borealis

Learn more about nature (add ID apps to my phone)

Read a challenging book

Make new friends

Shoot a bull’s-eye in archery

These are just a few items because there are so many more I could write down. The thing I like most about doing this is that it engages me in this present wonderful life.

I can dream of anything, knowing that if I really truly want to experience it, there is a way. If I conceive it and believe it and take action, all things are possible. What a gift!

I hope that you fill up your own Bucket List with things that light you up and give meaning and purpose to your life.

July 16, 2023July 8, 2023

Post #291 Love Bucket List 07162023

Recently I wrote a post and mentioned that I’ve had a bucket list for a long time and have had the opportunity to accomplish many of the items on it. Of course, I keep adding new things, which probably means it will never be complete. I’m okay with that.

You may have your own bucket list and be working your way through the joys of checking things off and loving the experiences you’ve chosen. I certainly hope so.

What struck me the other day was that I want to create an entirely new kind of bucket list. One that reaches deep within me, all the way to my core. It’s a bucket list filled with actions I take that connect me with others. Each action is powered by love, asking nothing in return, simply extending the love I feel inside me and offering it outward into the world.

My whole life I’ve heard that love is the most powerful, valuable, important thing in our lives. I’ve heard sermons, read books, seen movies, all focused on love. I’d be willing to bet you’ve encountered the same thing.

The downside of this for me is that what I hear and see is too generic, too ethereal, or too subtle.

I recognize it’s very difficult to capture the essence of love. It’s such a huge concept. How can anyone measure its depth, explain its mystery, or share its wonder?

Perhaps it can’t be done. But what I think can be done is to live it and show it through my actions. This is the reason I decided to create a Love Bucket List.

I’d like to share some items that showed up on my list with you.

One) when speaking with anyone, look into their eyes and connect with them.

Two) when someone is sad, offer them sympathy, not just with words or a card, but with a light touch, a hug, or a reassuring glance.

Three) when someone is hurting, regardless of the reason, offer empathy and a shoulder for them to cry on.

Four) encourage myself to offer acts of kindness no matter their size, because they all mean something to the receiver.

Five) forgive before being asked for forgiveness, allowing your heart to be wide open and free.

Six) offer compassion to everyone you meet along your path, knowing life can be difficult and beyond one’s limits.

Seven) extend warmth and caring in simple acts, like buying lemonade from a child or opening a door for someone.

Eight) remember you come from love and return to love so that you can assist others during the tough times they face, offering reassurance that, in the end, all will be well.

Nine) walk next to others, not ahead or behind, but next to them, offering support and comfort for their journey.

My list continues from these beginnings, taking on a life of its own and allowing me to extend further and further into my heart and back out into the world.

When I reread this list another important thought occurred to me. These items appear to be extensions of myself in an outward direction, but I also need to extend love inward, to my own heart. I need to support my own growth and treasure my own inner essence.

I have come to learn that love is a deep well connecting me to my divine source. When I depend solely on my own strength and power, I quickly experience an exhaustion of what I have available to me, but when I sit still and go within and connect directly with the divine, I am never exhausted and there is always love present, both for me and for the world.

June 11, 2023June 10, 2023