Life does not come with instructions. It is a learning journey, from beginning to end. When I hear someone ask what the purpose of life is, that is my first thought. To learn. To learn, live and love.

Anyone can live a life. Anyone can get married. Anyone can raise children. Like plants and pets, children, marriages and relationships can survive without any special guidance or nuturing. No special education is really needed for any of them, as your general instincts will most likely get you by. Thank goodness for instincts. You can stumble along, learning as you go. The results vary, from good to horrific, depending on the level of luck involved. It's rather like baking a pie without a recipe. Trial and error will result in something edible eventually, maybe. Maybe not. You might waste a great deal of time, flour and energy before coming up with a acceptable dessert. It is so much easier if you have a recipe! The lessons during your journey can be invaluable, especially if you learn from them!

So where are these instructions? Which recipe is the best one? More importantly, which one works for you?

Humans are fascinating things. The study of the human mind and emotions might just be the largest source of study ever, and as endless as the universe. Well, unless we really are the microscopic enties in a little boy's bug jar, but then his universe would be as endless as our imagainations. Because humans are different and diverse, we all learn at a different rate, are all born and develop thoughts and concepts at a different rate. Some general rules can apply to some, other rules don't apply to many. A concept someone is trying to get me to understand will be accepted the day I hear the words that work for me. We all 'get' concepts in our time and understanding, and that is the way it is.

Years after this article was started, I read an astounding book about an after life experience. Some of the book had to be taken with a grain of salt, but it left me with three startling and life changing philosophies. We are here to love. Love, love some more and then, love some more. The other two are dominoes and impact. The thirs is that a thought about a negative act is as lethal as the act itself. As soon as I find where I wrote about those, I will hopefully come back to this page and link over to those.

Someone in Alanon asked me the other day if I had graduated. I do not think fast on my feet, and I can't even remember my answer. Days later, I realized what I should have said. "The day I die."

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