Today I want to share with you something that I have been thinking about a lot lately.

What is your NET PEACE?

You know, how everyone talks about your net worth? Not how much money you do or don’t have in the bank. But add up all the assets and subtract all your debts and that is your ‘net worth’ if you did not know what that is…

If you are someone with a lot of net worth, and that sort of thing gives your life meaning and value, it is a pretty good number to think about. Remember in The Little Prince book, the businessman inhabiting the fourth planet? “When you find a diamond that belongs to nobody, it is yours. When you discover an island that belongs to nobody, it is yours. When you get an idea before anyone else, you take a patent on it: it is yours. So with me: I own the stars, because nobody else before me even thought of owning them”.

As a doctor who specializes in the care of dying patients, I have learned that, people’s net worth at the end, is not what they even focus on. They may not talk about it if they have a lot of it. Even if they are proud that they are leaving their family with financial security. They sometimes mention it if they are leaving family without support if they are very young in their lives. But the focus is leaving their family, not leaving their family without enough money…

In all honestly, it simply is NOT the focus of what matters to them at the very end. Meanwhile, we are killing ourselves working so hard everyday to make that net worth higher. We get caught up in the cycle of how to buy things that make us look like we have a high net worth, whether we have it or we don’t.But I am here to talk about something that I think is so much more valuable.

NET PEACE is a concept that I just sort of created in my own mind somehow. So I don’t forget what my own priorities are at all times. I don’t think you can look it up on line and something would pop up. I don’t profess that this has research to back it up, but it is in the realm of focusing on your SELF CARE and you’ll see what I mean.

In my place of work, they try to put good effort in preventing us from burn out by emphasizing the importance of SELF CARE. Here is what it stands for and I think it is pretty accurate:

S- sleep, E- exercise, L-laughter/love, F- food, C- compassion, A- awe, R- resilience, E- engagement.

Now, I am pretty sure that I am not sharing anything mind blowing here with you. But bear with me.While your ‘net worth’ can be positive or negative-or even zero, your NET PEACE can only be positive (more positive or less positive) but ALWAYS positive…

Think of it as an ‘intentional bucket’. The more you pay attention to all the items of SELF CARE that I spelled out above, the more you are putting PEACE into your intentional life. In this space, I will share stories, poems, pictures and videos that will be tagged with the items listed above. You can do the same if you wish. So that when our collective NET PEACE is getting lower, we can check in here and be inspired to fill up our bucket to have more peace.

Everything you do daily to cultivate a life of meaning and purpose,A life that is lived without being judgmental (of yourself or of others)is a true act of self love that will give you so much PEACE.When you live an intentional life of peaceful mindset, you will live a life well lived. No matter what your net worth is….

This is an absolute truthful observation that I have had over and over near the end of life. A life of abundance and clarity. A life lived by having compassion and loving yourself and others.A fullness that comes with a life lived slowly.And purposefully. The only currency needed is SELF LOVE with compassion. To be “Kind to your Mind” as Andy says. Let’s live in the moment so that we can strive to get our NET PEACE a little higher everyday.

Every bit counts.

With so much love to you all