Live It Up

"We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us." 

(Charles Bukowski)

A dear friend recently told me that the bumps in the road, the hardships and heartaches in life are inevitable. That the scars we suffer, give us character.  It's how we are molded. They in turn provide us with knowledge and courage and ultimately make us stronger.  They make us who we are.  Chalk it up to "experience".

Someone else told me just yesterday, that any day you wake up, is a good day. You're alive, you're above ground.  Very profound with so many obstacles out there to challenge our very existence.  Health being number one on that list, I'd say.  Not to mention all the negative outside influences that can present themselves on a daily basis without so much as a warning.  

Yes, the ultimate goal of every human being on any good day in which we are blessed enough to wake up above ground, is just that...LIFE!

• "He who has a why to live can bear almost any how."                        (Friedrich Nietzsche)

Now everybody has advice to give based on personal experiences and lessons learned along the way in their own pursuit of "life".  (see earlier post on my advice and Lessons Learned) We can choose to heed the advice given to us or not, based on the relationship we have with the person dishing it out.  The "trust" factor comes into play here to tap you on the shoulder in order to wake up the gut instinct.  It is in each of us to help steer us in the right direction and help decipher the message that is not always clear in the advice thrown at us.  For there are people out there who purposely give you bad advice in order to take advantage of you or a particular situation you may find yourself in.

• "Trust your hunches. They're usually based on facts filed away just below the conscious level."   (Joyce Brothers)
   

Normally, we tend to listen to the advice of teachers and doctors, for isn't that their business?  And we can all learn something from the elderly.  Those genuine souls who have lived earnestly and productively could shed more light on just about any situation which requires not only common sense, but the lessons learned from the school of hard knocks.  Learning from the experiences of others, doled out as "advice", generally serves as a guide on how NOT to do something.  Come on now, we all have those tidbits of information tucked away and will draw on them automatically if the need arises. Hopefully before an occurrence that will give us pause, and make us shake our head, just before someone else slaps us upside it...with a quip about how dumb that was or worse, that phrase that we all dread hearing..."I TOLD YOU SO"!

However, there is no better way to learn than to have the experience for yourself. The endeavor itself should focus on the objective to attain the goal of success for the effort.
  

• "The reason I am more successful than most is because I have failed more than most!"  (Robert Kyosaki)

Depending on how you define success, the experience you will have gained in order to meet the goal is LIFE itself!  You are living it...and isn't that the ultimate goal to LIFE...LIVING???

• "For a long time it seemed to me that life was about to begin~real life, but there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid.  At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.  This perspective has helped me to see there is no way to happiness.  Happiness is the way.  So treasure every moment you have and remember that time waits for no one."  (Souza)

SO LIVE IT UP!!!