At Your Age What Do You Live For?

I primarily live for my wife and our relationship! It is the most valuable part of my life. Not to undercut my three beautiful kids and their families who we love dearly. My life is full and has been since I married back in 1969...

Oh, I should mention our two Golden Retrievers, as they also are important to us at this point in our lives...

My cup runneth over...
 
I’ve never lived for the sake of a purpose so why start now? But there is much that gives me fulfillment.

It was mentioned earlier that women needed things to care for but I think people do. I gain a lot of satisfaction from making my garden and walking my dog every day. I have a couple of pen pals I keep up with regularly which is also quite satisfying in a similar fashion to keeping up with folks on the forums. I’m fortunate to be in year 40 of my relationship with my life partner and we do a lot together.

In fact we’re kind of stuck with each other as her combination of medical challenges rules out recovering from things like Covid. So we’re practically shut-ins, though we do walk together everyday. Sure would be nice to mix with friends more easily and to out to eat.
 
chic said:
"At my age what do I live for?"

At MY age. That's hilarious. I live for questions like these that make me realize how young I still am. Nothing is over until it's over. I love possibilities and my days, everyday almost, are filled with those.

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I’m going to have report you for posting as a senior while obviously a twenty something. What is your secret?
 
Deep gratitude for all that's present in my life:
My health to start with.
My loved ones - husband, children, grandchildren, friends, pets.
What nature provides - warm sun, brisk winds (not too brisk, please), ocean waves, peaceful forests, stunning desertscapes, majestic mountains.
What humans have wrought - delicious food and beverages, interesting reading material, great music, numerous good viewing choices brought right into my house via the miracle of streaming TV, health and medical support, comfortable homes, etc.

All these and so much more stoke my joie de vivre on a daily basis.
 
David777 said:
I've studied the Earth and Universe natural world in this modern science era so would be content and happy to exist eternally as I now am forever. Our planet and it's life is absolutely incredible and fascinating. I so so love existence and life.
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I’ve also found great satisfaction learning what we can about the world and how the cosmos got here. I recently read McGilchrist’s two volume two thousand page treatise on nuroscience, philosophy, physics and religion and that has brought me to the realization that I, a life long agnostic, have a need for the word God in my life even if that is only a placeholder name for a mystery beyond the powers of language to describe - though poetry and mythology get us pretty close.

I’ve also come realize the value of faith and to realize we all do and must have some form of faith - even if that is just in something as meager as science. Science is fantastic but it doesn’t fill out our humanity the way literature can. Still it tells us what the world is and if you push philosophy hard enough you realize you can’t get consciousness from a rock or any other assemblage of atoms.

That we exist and experience as we do tells us consciousness is ontologically primitive and does not arise from anything else. It is the form the One has taken which has given rise to the many. We not only have dying stars in our family tree but the living God as well. That is the meaning I find in life and it is enough.
 
Ruthanne said:
I find this is a recurring question that I think about. I now live to care for my BFf Suzy Dog. Once she is gone though she I may find little to nothing to live for.

What do you live for?
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When I was but 12 yrs old my mom told me I would die at 69 because I had something wrong with my heart. I was then left alone to deal with that and reconcile life to dying through my teenage years. I concluded that life was a meaningless series of days to be gotten through simply by putting 'one foot in front of the other with each passing day'. When I retired I moved in with my mom and then cared for her for 14 years, 24/7, alone. She passed this last March. And, I must confess I have missed her terribly. By your question I now realize she became my purpose to live. Something I hadn't had all my life.

More is my question should I return to seeing life as a purposeless experience or should it be to a purpose? And, so, this is what your question really asks. This is the first question YOU and I have to answer. Did you really have any purpose before in your life? Do you want now to have your life have a purpose? If not, you've nothing to be concerned with. Just take each day as it comes unplanned and unexpected. If you want a life with purpose, then you are giving yourself a lot of headaches. But, maybe you always have and what you've always had is what you are most comfortable with and fulfilled by; and don't want to deal with anything new.

Could it be that the answer to your question is the question itself? You now have much more power over your life than at any time in your life so long as you choose correctly how to embrace your life. By, 'correctly' I mean your decision about your life MUST line up with how you live your life in every way. And, finding out what that means is the adventure of it.

Remember always that YOU ARE NOT ALONE. Everyone has and is struggling with the same. You have a lot of company. You are not as alone as you may think you are. Your sense of 'aloneness' is what may be causing you the most despair. So be assured, YOU ARE NOT ALONE.
 
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Repondering said:
To know that my consciousness is connected somehow, in some measure, with everyone else's consciousness. That the entity we refer to as God and which is vast beyond all human comprehension is also connected to us all. That I am obliged to learn lessons and that empathy is one of the important lessons. That my consciousness/soul is eternal and immortal and that my journey will continue after I experience what we refer to as death, and that the course of that journey will be affected by my choices of conduct here in this material life. That a good plan of behavior is to not bring suffering to anything that's alive........as much as that's possible. And to live peaceably with other people as much as that is possible.
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Have you read the "DESIDERATA"? Your remarks echo it so well. I try to live it as best I can. Nice to meet you.
 

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