Ambition by AI

  

You said:

I am a 72 year ld man with multiple sclerosis and multiple joint replacements but I have an urge to do something meaningful with my life in spite of all the barries.  Can you make a suggestion?

ChatGPT said:

ChatGPT

It's deeply inspiring that you want to pursue something meaningful despite the challenges you face. There are many ways to make a lasting impact, tailored to your interests, abilities, and experiences. Here are a few suggestions to consider:

1. Share Your Wisdom and Life Experience

Mentoring or Teaching: Offer guidance to young people, professionals, or others facing adversity. Share lessons from your life or career to inspire and support others.

Writing: Write a memoir, blog, or even short articles about your journey, lessons learned, or topics you're passionate about. Your story could resonate with and empower others.

2. Advocate for a Cause

Multiple Sclerosis Advocacy: Use your voice to raise awareness, fundraise, or advocate for better resources and support for people with MS. Organizations like the National Multiple Sclerosis Society often seek volunteers and ambassadors.

Disability Rights: Advocate for greater accessibility and inclusivity in your community. Your firsthand experience could make you a powerful advocate.

3. Create or Contribute to a Project

Start a Local Initiative: Organize something meaningful in your community, like a support group for people with chronic illnesses or seniors facing isolation.

Contribute Remotely: Join virtual volunteering opportunities, such as mentoring, tutoring, or contributing skills like writing, editing, or designing for non-profits.

4. Embrace Creativity

Art or Music: Explore painting, writing poetry, or playing music as a way to express yourself and inspire others. Sharing your creations could bring joy to many.

Gardening or Crafting: If mobility allows, these can be therapeutic and meaningful hobbies, especially if you donate or sell your creations for a cause.

5. Focus on Relationships and Legacy

Strengthen Personal Connections: Spend time fostering meaningful relationships with family and friends. Share your stories, values, and love.

Ethical Will or Legacy Project: Create a document or project to pass down your values, advice, and hopes for the next generation.

6. Volunteer from Home

Many organizations offer virtual volunteering opportunities. Examples include:

Crisis Text Line: Help people in emotional distress (training provided).

Be My Eyes: Assist visually impaired people with everyday tasks via an app.

Transcription Projects: Help museums, libraries, or historical societies transcribe documents for accessibility.

7. Inspire and Motivate

Public Speaking: Share your journey and insights with others, inspiring them to overcome their own obstacles.

Social Media Presence: Use platforms to advocate for causes, educate, or inspire through your experiences and insights.

8. Lifelong Learning

Enroll in Online Courses: Explore subjects that interest you, from philosophy to technology. Platforms like Coursera, edX, or Udemy offer accessible options.

Explore Spirituality or Philosophy: Deepen your understanding of life's purpose, helping you and others find meaning.

9. Support Charitable Work

Philanthropy: If financially feasible, fund scholarships, medical research, or local community projects.

Volunteer Time: Offer administrative or creative skills to charities, even remotely.

10. Take Care of Yourself While Making an Impact

Your health and energy levels might vary, so choose endeavors that align with your physical abilities and mental well-being. Even small, consistent actions can have a profound impact.

Life Is Short

  

 

 Dr. McGarey shares her six actionable secrets to enjoying lives that are long, happy, and purpose-driven:

-Spend your energy wildly: How to embrace your life fully and feel motivated every day.

-All life needs to move: How to move—spiritually, mentally, and physically—to help let go of trauma and other roadblocks.

-You are here for a reason: How to find the everyday “juice” that helps you stay oriented in your life’s purpose.

-You are never alone: How to build a community that’s meaningful to you.

-Everything is your teacher: Discover the deep learnings that come from pain and setbacks.

-Love is the most powerful medicine: Learn to love yourself—and others—into healing.

Life Is Short: 103-Year-Old Shares 5 Lessons For The Next 50 Years Of Your Life | Gladys McGarey

https://youtu.be/fA6r693-VPk?si=SYdWQ_4MGAw682Pc

Remind yourself that with hope there is always a way through the pain.

 

Keep feelings of hopelessness at bay. Remind yourself that with hope there is always a way through the pain.

“We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope" 

M.L. King

“What gives me hope in these tenuous times is the knowledge that there is precedent for change and there’s precedent for hope. Hope has bred change again and again.” 

Ava DuVernay 

"Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness."

 Desmond Tutu 

“You may not always have a comfortable life, and you will not always be able to solve all of the world’s problems at once, but don’t ever underestimate the importance you can have. Because history has shown us that courage can be contagious, and hope can take on a life of its own." 

Mrs. Michelle Obama 

“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence." 

Helen Keller 

"Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird, that cannot fly," 

Langston Hughes 

“The very least you can do in your life is figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope."

Barbara Kingsolver 

Charlie Munger liked to say, "Envy is a really stupid sin because it’s the only one you could never possibly have any fun at."

There is always reason for Hope.

 

There is always reason for Hope.  For instance, it was during his decade-long period of intense creativity and writing, often marred by solitude and illness, that Nietzsche produced his most significant works and developed the philosophical ideas he’s known for today. 

Remind yourself that with hope there is always a way through the pain.

Freidrich Nietzsche’s quote, “He who has a why to live can bear almost any how,” is a reflection of these ideas. The ‘why’ represents our purpose in life – our driving force, our will to power. The ‘how’ signifies the means, the path, the challenges, and the sufferings we encounter in our journey towards that purpose. According to Nietzsche, if one has a purpose (‘why’), they can endure almost any difficulty or hardship (‘how’) in achieving it. This sentiment echoes his belief in the redemptive, empowering aspect of suffering and its essential role in human life.

The quote reinforces Nietzsche’s philosophy that life is not about the pursuit of happiness or avoidance of pain but about the pursuit of a purpose, of a meaningful existence. And it is through this pursuit that one exercises their will to power.

Even in a modern context, Nietzsche’s quote holds considerable relevance. In our fast-paced, often chaotic world, finding a ‘why’ – a purpose or goal – can provide a sense of direction, a framework to make sense of the chaos and adversity we may encounter.

The quote is especially poignant when considering contemporary discussions about mental health and resilience. Psychologists emphasize the importance of having a purpose or goal to motivate us, to give us reasons to overcome difficulties, much in the same vein as Nietzsche’s assertion. Furthermore, the idea that hardship and suffering can foster growth and resilience is a key component of many modern psychological theories, such as post-traumatic growth.

Nietzsche’s philosophy, encapsulated in this quote, continues to impact modern philosophical thought, psychological theories, and popular culture. His ideas challenge us to seek our purpose and embrace the struggles we face in its pursuit, emphasizing that our ‘why’ can empower us to endure any ‘how’. This thought has endured and will continue to inspire people to seek meaning beyond mere happiness or comfort, shaping our understanding of human existence and resilience.

Read more:

https://quotesexplained.com/he-who-has-a-why-to-live-can-bear-almost-any-how/

Agency Is the Highest Level of Personal Competence

   

 

Agency Is the Highest Level of Personal Competence

Whatever your level, you can hold steady, decline, or grow.

Feeling that you have agency is nice. But feeling agentic falls far short of exercising agency—thinking and behaving competently and making real progress toward your desired goals.

To exercise agency is to acquire significant control over your outcomes in life’s various arenas, including school, work, sports, physical health, and psychological well-being.

The Four Pillars of Personal Agency

Full-fledged agency requires believing you can achieve your goal and engaging in the following activities:

1. Forethought: deciding to take on a challenge, thinking ahead, setting goals, and making plans.

2. Implementation: taking first steps, enacting plans, and persisting toward success.

3. Self-management: taking care of yourself, dealing with emotions and stress, and maintaining good health to sustain your efforts.

4. Learning and adapting: monitoring progress, rethinking strategies and tactics, and making effective adjustments.

Thoughtfully executing all four pillars of agency contributes to your personal and professional growth while helping you perform over time. 

Agency is thus a vital source of power, a capability, a competence that can contribute to your overall well-being.

 

Read more:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/getting-proactive/202203/agency-is-the-highest-level-personal-competence?msockid=1dd14bd34e546e2c051d5a524ff76f4f

Eleanor Roosevelt said,

“If life were predictable it would cease to be life, and be without flavor.” 

~ Eleanor Roosevelt

‘Silent Progression’

 

‘silent progression’ 

In 2019, Cree and colleagues proposed the term "silent progression"opens in a new tab or window to describe insidious accumulating disability independent of inflammatory activity in MS, based on data from the prospective UCSF EPICopens in a new tab or window cohort.

Neurodivergent

 

Neurodivergent - people whose brain differences affect how they process information, for instance ADHD.

ADHD can affect the brain's ability to plan, prioritise, focus and execute tasks. Key characteristics include inattentiveness, impulsivity and hyperactivity.

Neurodivergent is a nonmedical term that describes people whose brains develop or work differently for some reason. This means the person has different strengths and struggles from people whose brains develop or work more typically. While some people who are neurodivergent have medical conditions, it also happens to people where a medical condition or diagnosis hasn’t been identified.

Robert Burns: Man Was Made To Mourn written in 1784

 

Man Was Made To Mourn

written in 1784

When chill November's surly blast 

Made fields and forests bare, 

One ev'ning, as I wander'd forth 

Along the banks of Ayr, 

I spied a man, whose aged step 

Seem'd weary, worn with care; 

His face was furrow'd o'er with years, 

And hoary was his hair. 

"Young stranger, whither wand'rest thou?" 

Began the rev'rend sage; 

"Does thirst of wealth thy step constrain, 

Or youthful pleasure's rage? 

Or haply, prest with cares and woes, 

Too soon thou hast began 

To wander forth, with me to mourn 

The miseries of man. 

"The sun that overhangs yon moors, 

Out-spreading far and wide, 

Where hundreds labour to support 

A haughty lordling's pride; - 

I've seen yon weary winter-sun 

Twice forty times return; 

And ev'ry time has added proofs, 

That man was made to mourn. 

"O man! while in thy early years, 

How prodigal of time! 

Mis-spending all thy precious hours- 

Thy glorious, youthful prime! 

Alternate follies take the sway; 

Licentious passions burn; 

Which tenfold force gives Nature's law. 

That man was made to mourn. 

"Look not alone on youthful prime, 

Or manhood's active might; 

Man then is useful to his kind, 

Supported in his right: 

But see him on the edge of life, 

With cares and sorrows worn; 

Then Age and Want - oh! ill-match'd pair - 

Shew man was made to mourn. 

"A few seem favourites of fate, 

In pleasure's lap carest; 

Yet, think not all the rich and great 

Are likewise truly blest: 

But oh! what crowds in ev'ry land, 

All wretched and forlorn, 

Thro' weary life this lesson learn, 

That man was made to mourn. 

"Many and sharp the num'rous ills 

Inwoven with our frame! 

More pointed still we make ourselves, 

Regret, remorse, and shame! 

And man, whose heav'n-erected face 

The smiles of love adorn, - 

Man's inhumanity to man 

Makes countless thousands mourn! 

"See yonder poor, o'erlabour'd wight, 

So abject, mean, and vile, 

Who begs a brother of the earth 

To give him leave to toil; 

And see his lordly fellow-worm 

The poor petition spurn, 

Unmindful, tho' a weeping wife 

And helpless offspring mourn. 

"If I'm design'd yon lordling's slave, 

By Nature's law design'd, 

Why was an independent wish 

E'er planted in my mind? 

If not, why am I subject to 

His cruelty, or scorn? 

Or why has man the will and pow'r 

To make his fellow mourn? 

"Yet, let not this too much, my son, 

Disturb thy youthful breast: 

This partial view of human-kind 

Is surely not the last! 

The poor, oppressed, honest man 

Had never, sure, been born, 

Had there not been some recompense 

To comfort those that mourn! 

"O Death! the poor man's dearest friend, 

The kindest and the best! 

Welcome the hour my aged limbs 

Are laid with thee at rest! 

The great, the wealthy fear thy blow 

From pomp and pleasure torn; 

But, oh! a blest relief for those 

That weary-laden mourn!"

Resilience

 

Resilience is the art of bouncing back, not as the person you were, but as someone stronger, wiser and more determined.  When life pushes you to your limits, it's a call to dig deeper, to find strength you didn't know you had.  Every fall is a chance to rise again, more powerful than before.

BE A WARRIOR!

  

“The only thing I know is this: I am full of wounds and still standing on my feet."

—Nikos Kazantzakis

“Sometimes, carrying on, just carrying on, is the superhuman achievement.”

— Albert Camus