In a very intriguing research study a few years back, people over 90 years of age were asked what main regrets they had about their lives. At the top of the list was “not stopping to contemplate enough about life.”  In the spirit of not being a victim to this regret, here is something to contemplate:

What is your primary view of life? Check one.

_____1.  Do you view life as a playground in which you are here to experience as   much fun as you can for the first and last time?

_____2.   Do you view life as a test to earn your way to something better to come?

_____ 3.  Do you view life as basically neutral with the potential to become anything you wish it to be?

_____ 4.  Do you see life as a combination of these things plus something else?

_____ 5.  Or do you just live without thinking about these things?

Or, behind those questions, how much power do you feel you have in creating and living any of these particular views of life? Check somewhere along the continuum

     Do you think there might be a connection between which of these primary views you have and the amount of power you perceive you have in creating and carrying out that view?  Is there any connection between those things and the quality of life you are living?  Is there a particular view that might get you the most out of life?  These are pretty deep questions, but I think they are worth asking and trying to answer.

     I would pose that if you are not reasonably satisfied with the levels of happiness, peace and success you have achieved in life, it might be due to the particular life view you feel that you have freely chosen, had imposed on you, or a perception somewhere in between.

     I think it is easy to make two key mistakes and they are really not a fault but rather just the way our deceiving brains work.

1. We lose tract of how much power and influence we have in creating and living the realities that make up the most potentially successful viewpoint. After all, memory is geared towards efficient and simplified storage rather than accurate and complete retrieval.


2. We don’t find that potentially successful viewpoint because we fail to notice the connection between our current view and the results we get with it. This is because the brain likes to make quick, convenient connections that are often artificial and that really have no real cause and effect relationship. And, sometimes some valid connections don’t occur quickly enough to recognize the connection (that is probably why we don’t understand life and death just being two sides to the same single coin?)

     Being the guy who wrote the book, “You Can Have Your Cheese & Eat It Too and being afflicted with ADHD for over 60 years, I tend to want to have the “whole Kahuna.” My main questions are: (a) why not? And (b) doesn’t everyone?

     Subsequently I personally want to cover all bets by finding out how to live a good, balanced life here and now in doing some good for myself and others, having fun and experiencing a lot from doing that, and working hard to pass the test for something I am not comfortable gambling about as to whether it exists or not. It’s simply not worth the risk for me to even question my certainty of the afterlife, let alone not being equipped to know what it might mean. The real life experience I do know all about is that the future does come and if you haven’t saved some of your money you may not have it when you need it most. The only reaction is, “oopps.”

     So, apart from all this abstract philosophical mumbo-jumbo, what practical applications can you glean from all this? Here are some thoughts to consider:

1. Just from a purely mathematical/statistical standpoint, doesn’t it make most sense to slow down and approach each moment with a neutral view and see what you can do to possible get the positive outcome you want? In other words, suspend all pre-judgments and adopt a wait-and-see attitude.


2. Considering the inherent faultiness of memory, does it make any sense to keep score between what particular outlook you think you are using and the results you seem to be getting? Plus there is always the possibility of misconnecting the dots between the two events.

     It seems that we normally go through a process of not fulfilling our potential to a large extent, by failing to notice what we are failing to notice. When you slow down and pay more attention to the reality around you and then begin to think about it, you do start noticing that everything is affected by the view you currently have of life in general and that this particular view may be limiting your achievement of the better outcomes you want.  But that seems to be the design of life—gradually getting a bigger and better view of things over time and distance.

     In the meantime, you can also contemplate these important questions, which can actually form your practical “business plan” for living.

1. Why are you here?


2. What are you supposed to be doing?


3. How do you know if you are doing it right?


4. What’s in it for you?


5. Where do you go when you get in trouble?

   The only thing I can guarantee about any of this is that if you do it, you won’t have the regret that you didn’t when you turn 90. I suspect it will be worth it.