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Designing My (mortal) Life

Writer's picture: angelonatalieangelonatalie

Updated: Apr 25, 2023


I think about my own mortality a lot. I have for decades, and not just since I reached retirement age. I'm not morbid. I'm Sicilian and we're not afraid to talk about death. An actual Sicilian proverb promises, "You'll become a lot better if you think about your death." More importantly, I've taken Psalm 90:12 as my own, "So teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom." Wisdom is considering the end from the beginning. Wisdom asks the question, "What value will you place on this activity, perspective, or relationship when you're about to breathe your last?" Comedian Steven Wright said he knows when he is going to die because his birth certificate has an expiration date. Mine doesn't. So, until further notice, I'm here. And I want to "do something beautiful for God" - Mother Teresa. (Did I just quote Steven Wright and Mother Teresa in the same paragraph?) Some of my self-talk goes like this, "Well, Dad lived to the age of 76. My dear old Mom is 94." But those numbers are not an indicator of "what's left of my life". I have no idea how much longer I'll be on this side of eternity. Life expectancy numbers are just statistics. In an admonishment to not boast about tomorrow, St. James wrote, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” That thought is always in my mind when I talk about my future.

Designing Your Life, the college course


At any stage in one's life, reflection, self-knowledge and planning are important. So, I am jazzed about taking "Designing Your Life" in my final semester at WestConn. The course is based on the book of the same title written by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans. Both of these guys are design professors at Stanford University. In their book and life-design courses at Stanford, they promote the use of design strategies to tackle the issues of problem-solving and decision-making.


Imagine taking the tactics used in designing a laptop hinge and applying them to choosing a career, committing time to a charity, or buying a home. They teach that design is about curiosity, trying stuff through prototyping, reframing problems, accepting the process, and asking for help. They break the enterprise of life into four main areas: work, play, love, and health. Life design starts with grading yourself on these four areas. It's a first peak at where you are. I highly recommend the book. Read it with a journal handy. Go through the exercises that are part of the design process. It's a great tool for getting unstuck in your life. Please let me know in the comments what you think of their ideas. DYL Website https://designingyour.life/

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4 Comments


Angelo! I am so glad you took this class and would love to talk with you about this sometime soon. I think there are some fascinating opportunities in looking at this from a Christian perspective. I think you might also find this interesting: https://quest.udallas.edu/about

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angelonatalie
angelonatalie
Apr 22, 2023
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Thanks for the Quest link. I watched the trailer. It looks interesting and I will definitely check it out! DYL coauthor Dave Evans wrote a "Christian Companion" for DYL. He claims that DYL can help the believer in the process of discernment. https://depree.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Christian-Companion-to-Designing-Your-Life-Dave-Evans.pdf

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Nick Nardo
Nick Nardo
Apr 21, 2023

You write well.


Buddhists believe that one should contemplate their death daily and for the same reason that Sicilians do: to cherish every moment of life.


Thanks for the book title. It seems it offers a good means of self-appraisal.

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angelonatalie
angelonatalie
Apr 22, 2023
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Thanks for the feedback, Nick. Our prof is a positive psychologist and the ice breakers we do at class are a blast. Example: try pointing at an object and calling it something else. Do that to as many objects as possible rapidly for a minute. The ice breakers are meant to do something to our brain that makes us more receptive to reframing our perspective.

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