Author Topic: What did you do recently to "Live Life"? --- What's your recent realization?  (Read 2484 times)

Live Life

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Wife and I often chat about life (And life's reflections now retired) while drinking morning coffee, often with her pointing things out about me.

It used to bug me quite a bit (Actually, I would get frustrated and sometimes downright offended  =D) but I would keep quiet as unfortunately, she was usually correct about what she was pointing out.  Facing harsh reality is not easy  =( and she often speaks her mind without "filtering" (But she insists that she "filters" quite a bit.  :rofl:).

What I realized over time was this.

Imagine life's journey/experience was like walking through a forest.  What I did was focus on all the poop on the forest floor and stepped on them going, "Dang, why do I keep stepping on poop?"  =D

What my wife was pointing out was often all the poop I was focused on so as to AVOID stepping on them BUT I didn't see it that way and thought she was being mean.  Once I realized she was pointing out all the poop so I could avoid them, I understood she was actually helping me.  =)

Now, when I try to point out her stepping on poop ... Well, that's another story.  =D

Live Life

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During past 30 years, wife and I maintained the "Cheese cake vs chocolate cake" analogy to marriage.

Even though one likes cheese cake, the other may not like cheese cake.  It doesn't matter how good the cheese cake is, it won't be appreciated by the other who prefers chocolate cake.  And only chocolate cake will make the other "happy". 

But for decades, I thought if my wife knew the true intent of my heart as to why I want to do some things, she would have better understanding of why I pursue some things.  She usually said she is glad that she doesn't.  =D

Earlier this week while drinking morning coffee and discussing destiny versus free will (Wife believes we have free will to choose our destiny and I believe we are destined to have free will  ;)), I tell my wife that I realized individual preference for something could be uniquely personal and doesn't necessarily have to be experienced by others to be appreciated by them. 

I like fried oysters but if wife chooses not to experience tasting fried oysters, she could still appreciate that I like fried oysters without having to taste them.  =)

I like color yellow but have no issues of wife liking different color.  And wife's like for different color has no relevance how our marriage is pursued.  Some of our many disagreements/arguments during 30 years have been over individual preference for some things like preference for soap, tooth paste and toilet paper, etc.

After much debate, we ended up using different soap, tooth pastes but we agreed on toilet paper I liked and shampoo she liked.  When I told her we could have avoided so many disagreements/arguments had I realized cheese/chocolate cake or fried oyster or color preference analogies, she just smiled and sipped her coffee.  =)

Live Life

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After our dogs Daisy and Blaze passed in recent years, Karma is now on her last days. 

Wife got Charity and Faith as puppies for retirement four years ago.  Feral kitty brothers now fully domesticated (It took me playing with them locked in a room for 3-4 hours everyday for weeks) Johnny and Jack along with mini pigs Petunia and Waldo who have free run of our acreage along with chickens (Wife raised them all inside the house so they are friends with dogs/cats) have about a decade to go before they pass on.

While it is hard to go through their passing, remembering our canine companions/guides/therapists for happy days and joy they brought to our lives make us appreciate "living life" that much more.  Wife was correct to get puppies after I retired to transition through our aging dogs passing.

Faith on the left, Karma the eternal pup in the middle and Charity the 135 lb amazon on the right napping on bed. =)

K Frame

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"Karma is now on her last days."

My sincere condolences. Losing a companion animal is awful.

My baby Seren is 8.5...

October last year I discovered that she had lymphoma. There was no question I was going to treat her. The first round of chemo kept her in remission until July.

We repeated the chemo treatments and finished them a couple of weeks ago with her once again in remission.

I've no clue how long it will stay that way again.

At the same time she's also developed a progressive neuropathy that's common in big dogs. She's losing the ability to bark due to laryngeal paralysis, and she's also losing more and more control over her hind quarters.

Once we get past the holidays I'm going to be reaching out to some people I know to talk about whether acupuncture might be worth it as a means of hopefully stimulating the nerves to give her some stability back.

I've thrown a short ton of money at my dog, knowing no matter what, that I'm only buying small increments of extra time with her.

Among the best money I've ever spent, as far as I'm concerned.
MAGA unto others as you would have them MAGA unto you!

Dogs are our link to paradise. They don’t know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring—it was peace. — Milan Kundera


The gift which I am sending you is called a dog, and is in fact the most precious and valuable possession of mankind
-- Theodorus Gaza

HeroHog

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Man, we feel for y'all here at the Mercer house!
I might not last very long or be very effective but I'll be a real pain in the ass for a minute!
MOLON LABE!

JTHunter

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My last two, Christmas, 2002.  The GSH died of kidney failure 2/07 at 14y, 7m.  The "miniature golden" (a Springer/mutt mix) died 3 years later, ALSO in February at the age of 15y, 7m.  After 30 years of having dogs, I've been "dogless" for almost 15 years.

« Last Edit: December 28, 2024, 03:56:18 PM by JTHunter »
“I have little patience with people who take the Bill of Rights for granted.  The Bill of Rights, contained in the first ten amendments to the Constitution, is every American’s guarantee of freedom.” - - President Harry S. Truman, “Years of Trial and Hope”

Live Life

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After our dogs Daisy and Blaze passed in recent years, Karma is now on her last days. 
Karma has passed on.

Wife's idea of getting two lab puppies Charity and Faith four years ago to "transition" us as aging dogs passed on was a very good idea.

K Frame

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Ah *expletive deleted*it. So very sorry.  =(
MAGA unto others as you would have them MAGA unto you!

Dogs are our link to paradise. They don’t know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring—it was peace. — Milan Kundera


The gift which I am sending you is called a dog, and is in fact the most precious and valuable possession of mankind
-- Theodorus Gaza

Ben

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Very sorry for the loss of your buddy, Live Life.
"I'm a foolish old man that has been drawn into a wild goose chase by a harpy in trousers and a nincompoop."

Live Life

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Wife and I are getting a little tired of saying goodbyes to humans and canines/animals (Wife's mother and favorite uncle passed in recent years and my aunt and friend passed unexpectedly along with three aging rescue dogs and three rescue guinea pigs named Sancho, Poncho and Honcho ... Thankfully, wife recently rescued two more guinea pigs Iggy and Ziggy).

But staying true to title of the thread, the dead reminds the living to "live life".

RIP, Karma the eternal pup (Faith and Charity will sure miss you).  =)

« Last Edit: December 28, 2024, 08:35:32 AM by Live Life »

grampster

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Sorry LiveLife.
"Never wrestle with a pig.  You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it."  G.B. Shaw

JTHunter

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My condolences to you, your wife, and the other pups.  =(
“I have little patience with people who take the Bill of Rights for granted.  The Bill of Rights, contained in the first ten amendments to the Constitution, is every American’s guarantee of freedom.” - - President Harry S. Truman, “Years of Trial and Hope”

Live Life

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Charity and Faith sentiment definitely have been muted today.  Karma used to sleep/nap between them and reflective of their wonderment of where she is ...

Live Life

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Faith probably wondering her hunting buddy Karma really went for a long walk ...

zahc

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After my friend got killed on the road about 10 years ago, I stopped riding my bike places. Eventually I realized I'm going to die from something anyway, statistically from heart disease, so I might as well ride my bike in the meantime if that's what I want to do. So if I stop posting suddenly, it probably means some teenager surfing tiktok on their cell phone ran me over.
Maybe a rare occurence, but then you only have to get murdered once to ruin your whole day.
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K Frame

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If you have multiple companion animals one of the best things you can do, if possible, is to take them all with you when it's time for one to leave.

Animals instinctively understand death. What they (and we) don't understand is one of our companions suddenly disappearing and never coming home again.
MAGA unto others as you would have them MAGA unto you!

Dogs are our link to paradise. They don’t know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring—it was peace. — Milan Kundera


The gift which I am sending you is called a dog, and is in fact the most precious and valuable possession of mankind
-- Theodorus Gaza

Live Life

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Wife and I have been feeling down with passing of Karma so I decided to cheer us up by making my favorite cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting by modifying butter milk roll dough I normally make.  And even our daughter stopped by unexpectedly which was nice.  (Daughter who is a "baker" type said it was one of better cinnamon rolls she had so if there's interest, I can post the recipe, which is mine in the "Mess Hall" subcategory)

HeroHog

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YES, PLEASE! Post that puppy!
I might not last very long or be very effective but I'll be a real pain in the ass for a minute!
MOLON LABE!

Live Life

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cinnamon rolls ... I can post the recipe
YES, PLEASE! Post that puppy!
Here you go - https://armedpolitesociety.com/index.php?topic=70354.0

And butter milk rolls (You will stop buying King's Hawaiian rolls) - https://armedpolitesociety.com/index.php?topic=70356.0
« Last Edit: December 31, 2024, 02:17:09 AM by Live Life »

HeroHog

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Thank You very much!
I might not last very long or be very effective but I'll be a real pain in the ass for a minute!
MOLON LABE!

Live Life

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Live Life

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HAPPY NEW YEAR!

So, what are some of your plans to "live life" in 2025?  Are you intent on making any "realizations" in 2025?

I plan on trying some of the recipes in "The Mess Hall" as many look delicious and promising.
« Last Edit: January 02, 2025, 07:38:59 AM by Live Life »

Live Life

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What's your recent realization?

Are you intent on making any "realizations" in 2025?

I retired in 2019 and since, got to do a lot of life review/reflections that I was too busy to do while working and raising a family (But I pushed a lot of things aside that wife pointed out that I should look at in retirement).  It seems, there's been a trend of annual theme of realizations about life for me:

- 2019: What do I want to do in retirement? / Pursuit of "Bucket List"
- 2020: Life review
- 2021: Transformation of definition and meaning (Things are not what they seem)
- 2022: Perspective shift
- 2023: Holding prejudice and passing judgement / Creation and use of persona during life
- 2024: Who am I truly and what do I truly want? (Wife suggested doing "Shadow works and integration" to help)
- 2025: Belief system (In progress)

One of many realizations I made in 2023-2024 was the notion of "glass half full/glass half empty". 

All through life, I considered myself an optimist "glass is half full" person.  I realized, by holding that notion, I was "holding prejudice and passing judgement" to those who held the notion of "glass half empty" as pessimists.

After watching the movies Inside Out, Groundhog Day, Overboard 1/2, 50 First Dates with wife several times, instead of fearing/rejecting "glass half empty", I understood it was OK to simultaneously hold the notion of "glass half full" while also holding the notion of "glass half empty".

Being able to perceive life from both perspectives allowed me to not hold prejudice and pass judgement ON MYSELF as well as others that as "imperfect humans", it was OK to be optimistic while being pessimistic about life. =D   

And this helped me approach in 2024, "Who am I truly and what do I truly want?" along with "Shadow works and integration".