GOTO-HEALTH

Listening to an Oprah podcast, I thought, “I want a Maya Angelou mentorship in my life.” Then it occurred to me that I could learn to be a Maya Angelou for others. I don’t have to be six feet tall. I don’t have to have a doctorate. What Maya does for Oprah is to “bring out her best real self”!

 

For the last 50 years, I have named six people that I consider mentors in my life. The first is my husband, Sam Shigeru Goto, with whom I set a goal to pass on our heritage values to our great grandchildren, whom we expected to see and to be:  “Kind, Responsible, Caring individuals who see similar great grandchildren themselves.”  There is also a suggestion that if parents decide to work at being better people, the children will also follow?

 

Similar to the Oprah example, the great grandchildren don’t have to be biological. Also, I don’t want to be a Maya Angelou all by myself. There is also science and research citing that one-half of our real selves are from our biological heritage and circumstances. Also that another quarter is the internal tape recording of the first seven or eight years of our life and environment. The last quarter of our “Real Self” is from the choices we make from those first two areas.

 

At age 87, a host of my lunch friends have passed on. My husband left eight years ago and I have felt lonely. But, because of Covid, I have filled most of my time with learning and podcasts.

 

So, here’s part of my new plans for at least the next ten years of my life - starting with goals for using the six important F’s of my life:

 

*Faith - “Belief in finding and acting daily on my God given purposes!”
*Family - I live with an inspiring three-generation household.