think about this

[Lucas Cooper Merrin]

There will come a time for most of us where we have neared the end of our life on planet earth and the hours will grow darker, our choices and options will be over, happiness and sadness gone, love and hate a distant memory, time will have caught.. us.. up!

The grim reaper stands by our side and waits....

What will we be thinking?

There will be thoughts of our families and loved ones, thoughts of what may lie beond!

But i think we will ponder more on the "what ifs" regrets, chances never taken, opportunities missed,....that girl we were to shy to approach....that job that was a risk....i wish i had seen more of the world....

its only natural for the vast majority to play it safe in life, stick to whats familiar, keep your head down, not to rock the boat... and this makes sense at the time, the mortgage needs paid, the children need looked after, the annual holiday needs saving for, a good medical plan,

But when looking back in our final hours will any of that matter? Will it seem like a monotonous rut that we were stuck in by our chosen path of least resistance! A life led by whats expected of us! An existence limited by our lack of confidence or our fear of the unknown!

Nobody is truly happy! We all have our problems we all have burdens to carry, we are products of modern civilisation, With a "get by" mentality, live for the weekends hate mondays cycle! And this is accepted as the norm! But why?

Never mind looking back from ones death bed,lets look back from now. you will have faced many choices, the most important starting with your higher education and then on to choosing a career, are you in the job you always wanted? Or has society or external forces pushed you into a decision that wasnt entirely yours?

Have you regrets? Do you look back and wish you had reacted to situations differently? Have you let a loved one go that you should have fought for? Are you where you want to be in life? Or are you just a step on somebody elses ladder? Do you wish you had a new skill? New hobbie? New lover?

All your wishes and wants now become regrets and disappointment later if not acted upon! we are moulded from birth to exept that being unhappy is ok! its deemed normal to hate your job, its seen as acceptable to be in a loveless marriage for the sake of the kids!we pay over the odds for things we dont need to impress people that dont matter! We sacrifice our happiness on a daily basis to maintain the social view of what is expected of us!

Surely the purpose of life (after procreating) is to be happy?? But living teaches us that being unhappy is normal!

Now i agree its not just our own choices and decisions that influence our paths, but ultimately we have control of our ship but we all seem content just do drift downstream, the day to day grind has lowerd our spirits to the point of accepting that things cant get better and this is just how life is!

do you get where im coming from? or is all the above just the ramblings of somebody looking back and being filled with regret? ?

[spartan max2]

I have more of like a Buddhist approach to happens. Happiness is a choice.

There are things I want to do but I don't rest my happiness on wanting to rush from one bucket list item to the next.

Every life path will be diffrent. It is impossible to do everything. Just because a life didn't have a movie action plot dosnt mean it's any less beautiful

[Grandpa Greenman]

I don't have a lot of things, I am just grateful for what I do have.

[Lucas Cooper Merrin]

I don't have a lot of things, I am just grateful for what I do have.

where does your need to feel grateful come from?

Who are you grateful to?

Is it not a case that you put the work in so you deserve what you have?

[.ZZ.]

Father, that is how I look at life myself.

You put it into terms I would have liked to say too, if I could type as well as you.

Thank you.

[Lucas Cooper Merrin]

Father, that is how I look at life myself.

You put it into terms I would have liked to say too, if I could type as well as you.

Thank you.

Thank you

I may have slightly over exaggerated certain points, but i cant understand how we as the human race are content with accepting that being unhappy is quite normal! It defeats why we are here!

[Grandpa Greenman]

Just because you put work into something doesn't mean you will get the outcome you want. I know people who work very hard and have nothing. I know people who have everything they could want, but find no happiness. I am not grateful to anyone or thing, but I can still be grateful I am here and I can still walk, in my gimpy fashion. I have been through whole midlife crisis thing, then I hit the wall of reality and learned what is really important and just how bad life can get. Life is never a given, you make it as best as you can.

[Lucas Cooper Merrin]

Just because you put work into something doesn't mean you will get the outcome you want. I know people who work very hard and have nothing. I know people who have everything they could want, but find no happiness. I am not grateful to anyone or thing, but I can still be grateful I am here and I can still walk, in my gimpy fashion. I have been through whole midlife crisis thing, then I hit the wall of reality and learned what is really important and just how bad life can get. Life is never a given, you make it as best as you can.

Thats true! life can always get alot worse than what it is! And we seem to focus on the fact that "things could be worse" and tend to muddle through rather than thinking "i want to be happier" and taking the risks of trying to imply this

Edited March 24, 2015 by Father Merrin

[StarMountainKid]

I have some regrets, of course, but I pretty much did what I wanted to do in my life, and didn’t care much about conventional expectations. In fact, I never wanted a conventional life here in the good ‘ol U.S.A., and I’m happy I stuck to that. It wasn’t really a decision I made, it’s just the way I was and the way I still am.

For me, the grim reaper is somewhere not too far away looking through phone books for my address. I think what’s past is past and I don’t worry about it. I think we put too much importance to regrets. I think we over emphasize our importance to other people. They’re mostly interested in themselves a lot more than they’re interested in us.

Also, people seem to enjoy lavishing pain on themselves for their own and other’s behavior. “This is what happened, now get on with your life,” is my advice.

I’m here where I am now, and that’s what’s important. If I’d done things differently, I’d be somewhere else, most likely not in a better place. It’s much easier to make life worse than to make life better. I think we should be grateful for the decisions we did make. For myself, I ended up okay, about where I wanted and expected to be. Maybe a little better than I thought.

I’m doing very well doing what I please, thank you. My foolish child-like mind as you call it has served me well. My responsibility is to be happy in myself, not to compromise too much for others self-satisfaction. For me, this is what matters and has meaning.

This may sound harsh or selfish, but this is my life, after all. I’m a sensitive and caring person, but there are only so many concessions I’m willing to make.

[GlitterRose]

I agree with a lot in this post, but I don't agree that the purpose of life is to procreate. There are honestly plenty of us. Maybe too many. I made a deliberate decision not to ever do that. I think it's my hugest contribution to the environment. I don't have an insecure ego that needs to be bolstered by leaving carbon copies of myself around. I raised a kid whom nobody else wanted, so whatever maternal instincts I may have had, they've been placated.

[Lucas Cooper Merrin]

I agree with a lot in this post, but I don't agree that the purpose of life is to procreate. There are honestly plenty of us. Maybe too many. I made a deliberate decision not to ever do that. I think it's my hugest contribution to the environment. I don't have an insecure ego that needs to be bolstered by leaving carbon copies of myself around. I raised a kid whom nobody else wanted, so whatever maternal instincts I may have had, they've been placated.

I agree that in this present time, procreation is now a cause for concern, as we have surpassed the 7 billion mark, but its a basic human instinct to mate!

im not saying that procreation is humanities only drive, but its up there in the meaning of life top 10!

[KariW]

I am thankful for every single minute the Good Lord has given me, and I would only ask to be of service to those in the hereafter, or perhaps as someone's Guardian Angel.

[Border Collie]

The definition of happiness, what it is and how you get some (Amazon?) is a whole bucket-load of threads in itself.

Regarding the Grim Reaper, we have had a lot of trouble with satnavs round here and I think he will have a tough job. Anyway, I imagine most of his spare time is likely to be spent asking Terry Pratchett to tell him another story.

[spartan max2]

Thank you

I may have slightly over exaggerated certain points, but i cant understand how we as the human race are content with accepting that being unhappy is quite normal! It defeats why we are here!

I don't see the human race as accepting unhappiness as being normal. Or atleast a prolonged state

[Delovely5150]

The way I see it is all depends on what you believe and how you define happiness is based on that belief. Like I believe that my life is borrowed and because it is borrowed regardless of what I decide to do, I have be careful of my life, of me. My actions being what I think God wants me to be or to do. Sure, we all have our regrets and we all experience different emotions but all these things can still be accomplished or changed as we move on. And maybe when the time that you described in the beginning comes, then perhaps we would have less regrets and maybe even a little satisfied.

There are many things that we want to do, to go or achieve but for some reasons we can't. So what are we gonna do about it then while we are living in this life, in this time? We do what we can and be grateful for what we are given or blessed.

[jmccr8]

I never thought that I would live to see 30,in another week I will be starting my third lifetime.Regrets,I had a few,nothing major though as I see everything as an education,and I love to learn.Am I happy,yes,I don't feel angry,sad or defeated,I enjoy my work,presently I have gone back to school to learn more skills and get a kick out of being there.For me as long as I can find new challenges and achieve goals I feel whole and excited.

jmccr8

[Lucas Cooper Merrin]

The way I see it is all depends on what you believe and how you define happiness is based on that belief. Like I believe that my life is borrowed and because it is borrowed regardless of what I decide to do, I have be careful of my life, of me. My actions being what I think God wants me to be or to do. Sure, we all have our regrets and we all experience different emotions but all these things can still be accomplished or changed as we move on. And maybe when the time that you described in the beginning comes, then perhaps we would have less regrets and maybe even a little satisfied.

There are many things that we want to do, to go or achieve but for some reasons we can't. So what are we gonna do about it then while we are living in this life, in this time? We do what we can and be grateful for what we are given or blessed.

Borrowed from whom and for why?

If you dont mind me asking?

[Lucas Cooper Merrin]

I never thought that I would live to see 30,in another week I will be starting my third lifetime.Regrets,I had a few,nothing major though as I see everything as an education,and I love to learn.Am I happy,yes,I don't feel angry,sad or defeated,I enjoy my work,presently I have gone back to school to learn more skills and get a kick out of being there.For me as long as I can find new challenges and achieve goals I feel whole and excited.

jmccr8

You are very lucky

[Podo]

From a purely biological point of view, we only exist to create more biomass. That's it, that's all we get. Higher purposes and higher powers are illogical to me. I don't want to procreate because I dislike children, so there's no purpose to life, for me. Not inherently, anyway.

Instead, I have created my own purpose, my own drive to keep going, and I think more people should do the same. We don't need some divine mandate pulled from a book written by humans who claim that it is the work of a deity, we need self-determination and the passion to fulfill our goals.