On meeting Leonardo…

This was originally sent as my May/June 2026 newsletter. Want monthly-ish reflections delivered to your inbox? Sign up here.

What keeps me returning to France is the sense of time and history that is intentionally preserved in its institutions, decisions and architecture — something I don’t experience as viscerally in my Canadian life.

Daniel Kahneman, the Nobel Prize-winning economist, was once asked if he believed he had a meaningful life. His response? He believed he had an “interesting life.” That answer has stayed with me.

I may be revealing profound ignorance here, but I didn’t know that Leonardo da Vinci had died in France until I visited his grave at the Royal Palace in Amboise, and visited Clos Lucé, where he lived and worked until his death in 1519. While wandering the gardens at Clos Lucé, where there are models of many of his inventions and prototypes, I marvelled at his brilliance and the tenacity and audacity he had to continue designing and discovering, even though so many of his ideas were limited in their execution by the lack of technological advancement at the time.

Did he believe those machines that didn’t have motors powerful enough to propel them were failures or a waste of time? Could he have anticipated that hundreds of years later, his drawings would fuel the development of industries, technologies and armies? What would he have thought about how famous he’s become? Did he expect to never return to his beloved home, or did the transience of life surprise him?

While I am no Leonardo, I am filled with curiosity after this visit. What are the stories I am writing as my life unfolds? How do I hold them with reverence? How do I lean into the gifts and costs of the short and temporal nature of life?

What if a life of meaning simply requires my presence in THIS moment — that I live this gift of a lifetime while paying attention? What if that is where “interesting” and “meaningful” meet?

In the end, I feel like I am returning to Mary Oliver’s immortal question: “Tell me, what will you do with your one wild and precious life?”

What has travel or staying in one place unlocked for/in you? What about interesting and meaningful lives — what do you think? I would love to hear from you about all these questions, and whatever comes up for you as you read this. Feel free to email me at cecile@cruxcoaching.ca.