[little*rhino]

so.. if money were no obstacle, what would you do with yourself each day? Now, if someone handed me a million dollars i'd be a fool and run around buying stuff for people, all that kind of craziness that people think they will do if they win the lotto. But.. what about after that?

what if you won millions, did your big spree stuff...? Imagine it's 2 years later and you were fortunate and smart enough not to blow it all. So, you have no financial obstacles and can do whatever you want... what would your days be filled with? What would you do day in, day out for all the weeks in a year and beyond?

most of us already know life is not a destination, happiness is not an arrival point, it's all about the path. Yet, many people still live with the idea of if they can just get through this bit they will be happy soon. It's like they are always waiting to be happy... wait until you move out on your own, graduate, get a job,get a better job, get a spouse, kids, house.... etc... until one day they retire and realize that the happiness wasn't there. The trick is to live now, be happy now... regardless of what is going on, because whatever it is THAT is your life right now in this moment.

don't try to just "get through it" with the mind of being happy once it's over, find your strength in this moment and reap the happiness that exists every day, however small the crop.

so what does living mean to you? if you were really living and not just existing, define that...

i've turned a corner, and i hope to never look back... but i write mostly to cement what i now have and to give myself clues to find this mental space again should i lose my way. My life is a bit of a disaster in many ways, so much misfortune, illness and stress, but i don't feel sad or even down now. i think most days now i am happier than i ever have been AND i experience the very real things happening without denial or delusion.

i can't quite explain it, but... i am using the small shreds of positive... i feel like david and goliath (sp?). Tiny bits of smiles and good things in the face of a harsh world... and then, the world just seemed less harsh.

to me now, living is being as in the moment as i can be... the very act of looking for more sources of positive experiences is living now.

[Skully]

I consider "living" as waking up every morning breathing. But seriously, as long as I am happy with myself I think I am living a pretty good life.

[Elysium]

Hmmmm....

If $$ were no obstacle? What would living look like to me? What would I do with my days?

Well....I think I would get myself settled into a comfortable home. Doesn't have to be a mansion, just a nice home that I could build a large edition onto. I would open up a private shelter for Cats and I would foster cats/kittens and do kitty rehab. I would work...not full time, but relief. Enough to keep my Nursing skills up, maybe 4-8 shifts a month working in a Neo-natal intensive care unit. I would go back to school and major in Music. My days would be filled with the things I love....cats, itty-bitty humans, and music. I would audition for a professional Choir and go on tour with them around the world.

I could do all these things now, except the $$ issue truly gets in the way. I am not financially well off enough to be able to drop my hours down to relief....I don't have the funding to open a shelter, I don't have the time to go back to school for my music degree.

I am however taking steps to train to work with Neo-nates as an RN, I do volunteer at a Cat shelter on occasion and I do hope to be able to major in music someday.

Great question though.

[El-ahrairah]

Hmmm living... I think to live is to feel, experience, learn and be happy.
Living is just feeling the whole balance of life and to accept the inevitable and be able to thrive on the little positive or w/e happens in life.

If money was no obstacle I would never EVER have a house, I would be a wanderer and I would explore and travel with my bf, I would listen to all the musics, life all the lives of different cultures, I would eat all the different kinds of food. I would fly a plane across the lands and go sailing and sky diving. I would go to college and study as much as I could about animals, sociology, film, music, everything I love.

Aw man, I wish I had money... lol. I really really wish I wasn't so scared to not care about my lack of money.... I would be a wandering homeless woman now if I wasn't so scared of the reactions of my family and the reality of the danger... lol.

[venusss]

I would be appartment in the downtown. Something historical and with great views.

And I would travel. A LOT. And I would buy some really good camera.

[Sabrina]

My husband and I would have our dream small holding with many many dogs but just before that we would travel the world, in a vehicle. Just spending each day with my husband, is living to me!

[AkAngel]

A few of you know, my wife is in prison and has been for twenty-two years. As a result, I know many people with loved ones in prison. They seem to always talk about putting their life on hold - or not putting their life on hold, waiting for their life to resume or other such nonsense.

This is my life. I am living it right now. These are not the circumstances I would choose if I wrote the play but I do not. In the meantime I am loved by an amazing woman. We talk every day, write every day and spend time together every week. Out of all the possible relationships I could have - of all the possible lives that I could have - I am living the only one I want to.

I think life is muddling through.

Living is acceptance and gratitude for what you do have.

[Beholden]

* Being kind and having kind people around me.

* Hiring someone to finish my landscape for me!

* Passing on all the good things and making a difference in someone else's life.

[little*rhino]

akangel... very nicely said!

[little*rhino]

Originally Posted by The Bakery

Aw man, I wish I had money... lol. I really really wish I wasn't so scared to not care about my lack of money....

an author i read recently said something that i've heard before but i liked how he put it - people are hardwired to be concerned with having enough, getting by, etc... but it is true that some people worry about that despite having more than enough. The point is that people worry about money whether they have it or not. Don't let those worries stop you because if you wait for that worry to decrease you may find your life passes you by while the worry remains the same.