60 Seconds What Is the Secret of Life

Episode Notes

Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is 60 Seconds, your daily dose of hope, imagination, wisdom, stories, practical tips, and general riffing on this and that.

What are the chances that you would learn the secret of life in 60 seconds? I’d say pretty good. Stop on in and listen.

Among the many unexpected pleasures of COVID sheltering in place is the dip back into old movies, especially the light ones that bring a message wrapped in some humor like a spoonful of honey to make the Tylenol go down.

City Slickers tracks three friends who take an annual trip to a dude ranch for a cattle drive across the Southwest leaving behind their wives as well as their fears about midlife crisis, aging, purpose, and all the rest that haunts each and every one of us. Billy Crystal (playing the part of Mitch) looks every bit the baby he was  in 1981. And Jack Palance will forever be Curly, that grizzled dying breed existential cowboy.

Maybe you remember this bit of chatter between Mitch and Curly as they mosey their horses along the desert landscape:

Curly asks: You know what the secret of life is?

Mitch: No, what?

Curly: (holds up a black gloved hand and extends his index finger) This.

Mitch: Your finger?

Curly: One thing, just one thing.

Mitch: That’s great, but what’s the one thing?

Curly: That’s what you’ve got to figure out.

It’s your story. You get to figure it out or not. You get to live it or not. Either way, it’s your choice. If you choose to live it you gotta live all of it.

Ironically, it’s meant to be shared. Why? As my friend, colleague and poet, Tina Dimirdjian of Poetry Consults writes, “A poem without the writer does not exist and without the reader it does not flourish or have breath in the same way as when it is shared. It’s the same for the gifts we receive and those we give; it is a service like a communal offering.”

The Secret of Life is just one thing; you get to figure it out and then share it because when you do your life becomes a service, a communal offering.

This is the place to thrive together. Come for the stories – stay for the magic.

You’re invited to stop by the website and subscribe to stay current with Diane, her journeys, her guests, as well as creativity, imagination, walking, stories, camaraderie, and so much more: Quarter Moon Story Arts

Production Team: Quarter Moon Story Arts

Music: Mer’s Waltz from Crossing the Waters by Steve Schuch and Night Heron Music

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