How do you live life well?

That's what most of us want right, basically out of life. To live it well. To make many moments count. To have no regrets over anything.

So what does it mean to live life well? What is this elusive art that seems like a dream to accomplish & achieve. Something that is just beyond reach, that puts that distance between you and "it", and lures you more and more into chasing it?

Does it mean that you spend your life finding yourself? Discovering who you truly are? What are all your true values? Does it mean figuring other people out? How their minds work, and why they act the way they do? Does it mean being a good role player? A good spouse, a good parent, a good child, a great friend? Does it mean travelling far and wide and absorbing cultures? Or not travelling far and wide, but just travelling more within your means and enjoying that.

" Do not take life too seriously.  You will never get out of it alive."

Does it mean plunging yourself headlong into a close knit circle of other people's thoughts and feelings, and feeling the richness of the tapestry of life as also its mystifying complexity? Or does it mean etching out space and time for yourself and your needs, in the midst of all the other tugs and pulls? Does it mean even knowing what your needs are in the first place? Does it mean stretching your body and your mind to rigorous disciplines, all with a view to tame the sense in one form or another? Or does it mean indulging in every sense and every experience to see what it all leads to, and whether eternity is hidden in there somewhere?

Does it mean driving safe, wherever you go, and travelling light? Does it mean reading books that make you see the stars that much brighter and inspire you to heights? Does it mean acting on your dreams, while countering gruelling odds, but having vision enough to make them that vintage reality?

Does it mean sitting back in an armchair on a rainy day, looking out, trying to see what is that last piece that could fit into the puzzle called life?

Does it mean finding that one place, and that set of people and circumstances to which you belong? Or keeping yourself so open that you could be at home anywhere, with anyone, so long as there is a smile to greet you somewhere and something soft to rest your head on?

Does it mean the pleasure of food, for after all, we all work to put food in our bellies, at the end of the day. Does it mean discovering your one true talent and dedicating your life to using it to create happiness for everyone? Does it mean always buying shoes that feel most comfortable, never mind if they don't always look good?

Does it mean finding something just when you think it was lost to you forever? Does it mean always making time  not to rush? Does it mean sleeping a full 8 hours every night, with no dreams to toss you in and out of that drowning? Does it mean listening to music, not just while you are driving, or cooking or multitasking, but sitting down and listening, just to listen?

Or is it all of the above and then some, in a certain proportion, that is rationed balance between whimsy and something that can have better warranty? A sprinkling of this, a smattering of that, a generous 2 portions of something else, and next to nothing of the other?

I am full of all the questions and cannot help but seek some answers, and I started with the people I work with. Some answers were from the top of the head, and some came from a place of deep feeling. But whatever be the case, they all had to hit the pause button on their lives for a moment and just consider the question and dwell in the more silent spaces of their own hearts, to define that feeling that rose up to them as vapors of answer, and then to crystallise them into words for communication. And this is what they told me.

Living life well means to be happy, on the whole (there's that elusive term again!) and have a positive influence on others. And living it without too much of stress, and when it gets to that point, to just compare your life problems with that of another person and see whether you'd really like to swap with him or does your lot seems just about right. And when asked what being happy meant....pat came the reply....love and a treasure hunt!

And I realised....Yeah. Life is a treasure hunt all right. You are searching most of the time, going from one place o the other, searching for clues and a sign to clear the confusion, to clear the path ahead, bumping and jostling with other treasure seekers along the way. And sifting through piles and piles of things, to extract that one thing you call a treasure. That one thing that you would like to have, above all else, as an adornment in your life. That one thing that makes you feel like you have lived your life well.

Which brings us right back to where we started, doesn't it? The question that began it all. So is there an answer? What's yours?

[Image courtesy : Google]