Recently I had a conversation with someone about what truly matters. Which led me to think about this life quiz composed by Leo Buscaglia. It’s from his book Born For Love, and he called it a Love Quiz. But I think it’s a litmus test for how you are doing at life.
My mother introduced me to Buscaglia’s books when I was young. I remember her carrying her tattered copy of Living, Loving, and Learning around and underlining it. Yes, these books were big in the 1980’s, but Buscaglia’s wisdom is still relevant today. The class he taught at USC called Love was one of their most popular. Buscaglia was moved to start the class after a student’s suicide. He wanted to use his years of psychology research and teaching to get at the crux of things: to teach what, he said, truly mattered.
Because, he said, life is really about loving — loving yourself and loving others. And loving life.
To me, this life quiz is a reminder to cut through so many of the stressful, disappointing, and even unimportant matters we tend to give priority and significance. Buscaglia talks about our recognizing the miracles all around us, even if it’s appreciating the startling array of the fall leaf colors. And he suggests we reach out to each other; no one should feel alone.
In this era of measuring one’s success and accomplishments against others, seeking value from external people and things, this life quiz is all the more important. So what if we make a pact, you and me? We can print this out, and put it on our nightstands, and for the next 30 days, we read it and check ourselves for our answers. I’m sure some days we might feel like we’ve done more of one of these behaviors than another. But by merely being aware of it, on a daily basis, I wonder if we can not only see areas where we might improve, but also realize those times when we’re experiencing some real, human connectedness.
Here’s the Life Quiz:
- Is anyone a little happier because I came along today?
- Did I leave any concrete evidence of my kindness, any sign of my love?
- Did I try to think of someone I know in a more positive light?
- Did I help someone to feel joy, to laugh, or at least to smile?
- Have I attempted to remove a little of the rust that is corroding my relationships?
- Have I gone through the day without fretting over what I don’t have and celebrating the things I do have?
- Have I forgiven others for being less than perfect?
- Have I forgiven myself?
- Have I learned something new about life, living, or love?
The beauty of this quiz, to paraphrase Buscaglia, is that if you’re not satisfied with your answers, you get to do it all over again tomorrow. So you can never fail it. Who’s with me? Let’s see how asking ourselves these questions each night for 30 days might turn us onto the beauty that’s happening all around us.
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If you missed my last post, click on this link: Elevator Etiquette: Are You Happy With Yours?
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