Several years ago, my sister gave me a book for Christmas called “List Yourself: Listmaking as the Way to Self-Discovery,” by Ilene Segalove and Paul Bob Velick. What a great little book to help us understand who we are and give us “stuff” to share with others so they can know us better, too.

Here is what they wrote in the introduction, “For some reason we love to ignore who or what we really are. But being truly human and liking it requires self-knowledge. It gives our experience resonance. It lends a vibe, an echo, a wholeness to what we think and feel. Self-knowledge is fun. It leads to wonderment, personal investigation, and new discoveries. It opens up the cracks and lets loose the bits and pieces of ourselves we haven’t met…yet.”

I love it. Socrates and Plato are credited for saying, “an unexamined life is not worth living,” and I absolutely believe the examined life is! And I agree with the authors here–it is fun!

That’s what Measured Lives is about. Living from who you are, moment to moment. And of course, the only way to do that is to know who you are.

So here is your first list: List all the qualities you love about being human.

Here are three of mine:

1. My brain is sophisticated. Even though I can say dumb things, my brain has great capacity, for thinking, for learning, analyzing, and strategizing. I love to use my brain.

2. I can feel. Emotions are good, normal, and helpful. They tell us something; they are indicators of something going on. They tell us about the toughest we are thinking. Good things and bad things, joy and pain.

3. I am wired for relationship and community. We all need each other. All of us. My life is better when I’m sharing it with others.

How about you?

As you examine your life, what are the qualities you love about being human?