Final Episode
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(Lose the Net by Rasmus Faber Courtesy of Epidemic Music)
It perpetually amazes me how good questions lead so naturally to good answers and how beautiful questions lead to even better answers! They always do. Each time we open ourselves to the things we don’t know, we open the doors to discovery and wonder and greater understanding. May it remain ever so for each of us.
I’m Scott Lennox and you’re listening to The Beautiful Question, a consideration of things that matter every day.
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This is the three-hundredth and final episode of The Beautiful Question. What a grand time it’s been creating them for you. I trust they’ve been useful.
Join me this week for a bit of reflection and a peek over the next hill. Stay with me.
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The six years that I’ve written and produced The Beautiful Question as podcasts have been remarkable in more ways than I can possibly tell you. I’ve learned so much about so many different things and even more about myself. And it’s been my joy to share some of what I’ve learned with you along the way. The responses I’ve received over the years have encouraged me and have let me know that I have done something meaningful and useful.
Before they became The Beautiful Question, I produced an uplifting weekly newsletter called The Two Minute Embrace—so called because they could be read in two minutes or less. Then, following the rather pointed suggestion of friends in New Mexico, my good friend Theron in particular, I began recording them as podcasts and the course of my life took an altogether new heading.
With the release of this episode, that part of our journey together draws to its natural conclusion. I’ll now be focusing my energies in other areas. Two of the primary areas will be my ongoing counseling practice and the art I create as I paint in my studio every day. I finally reached the place where it would be all but impossible for me to stop painting. I simply can’t imagine my life without it.
Creating visually compelling work that celebrates the beauty of the natural world occupies much of my time and adds meaning and depth to my life, not to mention yet another thing to be mastered.
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Preparation for each podcast episode required that I look more deeply into what it means to be alive and into what matters in both immediate and lasting ways. Rising to the top of the list, over and over, is what I’ve come to call “radical self-care.” I define that as being intentional about the way we think and about doing things that offer ourselves the most elegant and healthy ways of living, right down to the smallest behaviors.
When my dentist says, “Only floss the teeth you want to keep,” he’s pointing to a simple yet significant step in radical self-care. Drill down into that (yes, the pun is intentional) and you’ll find the medical truth that regular flossing helps to support cardiac and brain health. It’s a small step that brings major results.
You’ve probably noticed that I’ve signed off each podcast by saying that I hope you’ve been inspired to look more deeply at ways of caring for yourself. That, more than anything else has been the central focus behind creating the past three hundred episodes. I can’t think of anything that has more significant value or that has the potential of bringing about positive personal change.
As I step away from producing The Beautiful Question, I pray that some of what I have shared with you has brought about lasting positive results in your lives and that you continue taking active steps to honor yourself and to be good to the people around you.
What could matter more than that?
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So, this time, instead of leaving you with a set of questions to consider, I offer you the single two-part question that was posed to me years ago as I began intentionally taking charge of my own life. The question sits at the bedrock of my living well from one day to the next, and I hope it will yours.
The question is this: “What do you want more than you want anything else, and what are you willing to do to have it in your life, regardless of what it takes?”
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If you feel compelled to do it, write and tell me where that question takes you. I’d love to hear your answers.
From my heart to yours, thank you for allowing me to be part of your life for the past six years. It has been a privilege.
As I’ve said each time,
My Light with Your Light!
[ theme music & sign-off ]
I’m happy we’ve engaged this way as we considered things that matter and what to do about them. If nothing else, I hope you’ve felt inspired to look more deeply at ways of caring for yourself.
At thebeautifulquestion.com, you’ll continue to find an archive of all previous podcasts, including guided relaxation audios that can help you practice letting go on a daily basis.
You can find my art at scottlennoxart.com. May some of what you see inspire you in some way.
Thank you also for helping me get a voice of calm and collaboration and balance and encouragement out into the world. I’m dedicated to continuing that wherever I am and however I can. Join me in that.
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I’m Scott Lennox, and this has been The Beautiful Question.
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The Beautiful Question is a One Light production, written, produced, and engineered by Scott Lennox at HeartRock Studios in Fort Worth, Texas, as a way of paying forward to life, being fully present, becoming better engaged with things that truly matter in a complex world, and committing to a healthier future for all of us.