if you spend too much time on the peripheral scenery you could well reach the death destination earlier than expected

I’m sure that you will get the right balance between living and surviving!

A) You rashly discard pyramids as useless. This is plain silly. For instance the food pyramid is based on science and gets a point across.
B) The point is NOT to set goals so you DON’T get stuck chasing something so you CAN look at the scenery a long the way.

What is the point driving along the road of life to your destination death if you don’t view the scenery on either side?

I also think you are spot on.

But consider the irony of this – you experienced challenges, came out to Australia with nothing in order to build a better life for your wife and kids. You were a success, and your children and grandchildren, and great grandchildren lead a comparatively privileged life.

But it is so ironic that your grandchild sometimes has trouble feeling satisfied with his life, precisely because he didn’t have to go through the hardships that you did.

I think that maybe people of our age are obsessed with instant gratification. Rather than getting down about set backs, we should consider that anything that is worthwhile takes time. We need to be reminded that overcoming the setbacks that delay acheivement of our plans and dreams may actually heighten our sense of satisfaction and hapiness. This is something that I often need to be reminded of, I think.

Glad to hear you enjoyed my blog and great to hear of another person taking on aquaponics! Have you checked out the backyardaquaponics forums? They’re gold.

I haven’t actually tried to use any “techniques” to bring me back to the present, just that I need to recognise it more than I currently do.

How do you practice gratitude? Do you mean that you just take time to appreciate how lucky you are? Or do you actually try and give something back to the people who helped you (or maybe those who are less fortunate?)

Every now and then I think about how lucky I am that there are no wars going on where I am, and that I can snuggle up in my girls arms knowing that I’ll be completely safe tonight.

~Gemmell

You say you live life “day by day”. This is exactly what that article said is needed to be happy. This is also a key part of mindfulness – not worrying about the past or future, just the present. I know that you will probably say that you weren’t following any mindfulness crap, and that you DID have plans, but it’s not saying don’t have plans, just to take time to LIVE your life.

I don’t want you to get me wrong Grandad, I’m not an unhappy person. I am as optimistic and outgoing as you are. I think the whole reason I got unhappy was because I tried to pile so much on my plate that I felt I wasn’t getting anywhere with anything. And I’m not on a life long quest to find happiness, I am generally very happy. I just have patches where I get really down (and reflective).

You say “The trouble is for you at the moment that you are not having the set backs, every thing is too easy”. And I think you’re spot on. I have an easy life. I’ve pretty much had everything on a platter – and I appreciate that. But at the same time, I think adversity really makes you appreciate the good bits. Because I’ve got it good all the time and so I’m totally desensitised to it. But what do I do? Give away all my worldly possessions? Not take financial benefits that come my way? I don’t really want to create an artificial adversity. In saying that, I don’t really put myself in uncomfortable situations because they are … uncomfortable. Maybe I should… But what you’re saying is that I don’t have set backs, which is totally untrue. I have set backs as much as any body else, but I overcome them (like any body else). Hrrm now that I think about it, maybe you’re referring to something bigger – one of the guys at my work has a 6 year old daughter with a brain tumor. She has a shunt in her head to relieve the pressure and when they take it out she WILL die. Horrible stuff, is this the kind of “set back” you refer to? I would call it a life changing event.

I also think that you married and had kids at a young age, which gave you a sense of purpose in your life. This is something I feel I lack in those dark moments. How old were you when you married and had your first child? I think “I work, I earn money, I save…. why am I doing this again?”

I don’t think I’ll ever be able to take a sermon from some dude who’s believed in something his whole life just because he’s been told to. I don’t know where I heard it but I remember the quote: “Organised religion was the death of spirtuality”. So you needn’t worry about me there.

Anyway, it was good to hear your thoughts on it. I hope my reply wasn’t an epistle.

Anyway, thanks again for sharing some interesting thoughts
B.