Well, b2, anyone who gets through childhood without a few adventures with animals is probably rare...even in the concrete jungles of the cities, kids manage to do stuff with animals, and like you said, there are these places, even in populated areas, where there is still wilderness for some reason. I'm glad you felt that pull to the horses, it's kind of a powerful thing, what animals do to you sometimes. The challenge is to develop ourselves somehow or other, so when we approach a strange animal, we have such trust and ease of spirit that they accept us without question. But we grow up with many warnings and many fears.

And we need a grown up to walk with us into adulthood and teach us about things...so many of us lack that mentoring as youngsters and never do get that wonderful fullness of life that comes with top-grade adult mentoring. But we get by and I am realizing now that life goes on in the great beyond...what we didn't get here, we can get there and keep growing.

What I hope to develop from my question at the beginning of this thread is the sense of ongoing continuance of life learning and skill building. That would make a difference in how I view my life at this time and how I even plan for things.

For example, I wish I could ice skate. I can't do any of those things. But I am soon 66, and if I fell I might injure myself badly and who would care for my pets?? So it is better for me to put off learning to ice skate until I am in the Park or some such place, where I won't break anything if I fall, right? Better planning at this stage of life.l

Instead of grieving that I missed so many activities and skills this time around, I can focus on planning what I want to do as soon as I arrive there. There are things to do here and things to wait for, for later over there. Right?

Like, I can learn to ballroom dance and have a fabulous blue dress to dance in like I have always wanted. I can refresh my scuba diving skills, which I haven't done for a few years and probably won't do now. I can improve my sailing skills, I never did get very good at managing those big sails and I never did get to set out the spinnaker by myself. And so on.

So I'd like to develop a strong sense that life is an ongoing thing including all the fun stuff and the adventuring stuff. That's part of what I hope to learn.
And then there is all the educational stuff...if you go to university here as a mature student, unless you live close to your family, and you have a family to start with, you will spend a lot of very lonely time. It's not like when kids go to U and waste half their time partying and fooling around. Mature students are paying their way and usually struggling so they study hard and fast. A lonely business. I did my BA that way, don't think I would want to pursue a Master's or PhD on this plane, it would be the end of my sanity. I can't be alone that much, it was hard enough for just the B.A.

So there are so many things we can't do here as life goes on, things we have to set aside "forever" except we now know that nothing has to be set aside forever.

It's like saying to a toddler, you're not big enough to do that yet, but when you are ten, you can do it, you will be bigger and your legs will be longer.

We get to do it all later. That's a reality and it's one I want to really absorb and plan for.

Having gotten to what we call in the western world, "retirement", being so lucky to be born on this side of the world, there is this tendency to bow to everyone else's view that your usefulness is over now, go sit down and learn to knit.

As travellers in the Afterlife realms, we should know better and should be planning accordingly.

Anyway, that's part of it. Any thoughts on all this? I am trying to learn here. Vee

Thanks b2. Most of the important things are small things, like squirrels...but it takes a lot of work to establish the foundation to build those small things on, that's the tricky part. The squirrels need the tree, for example! The world would not be so enjoyable without animals. I sometimes ponder the amazing thing we call "soil". Without it, there would be no life. Everything comes from it. And if I put my vegetables out on the compost, it turns into soil so fast...it's a thought-provoking process. A fast moving cycle, and we are part of it while here on this plane. I wish I understood it all...!! I spent my life establishing difficult goals and striving to reach them, now that I am retired, what to do about those goals?? It makes me think about the Afterlife and what we do about goals over there. But then, if people had not made the effort to establish those places, like The Park, for example, there wouldn't be a Park to go to. There would be other places I guess, but not that one. So they had to set goals to achieve that, too. But being retired here on Earth is a time to kind of let go of goals and just enjoy those small things, like squirrels. I guess. Life is a great puzzle...Vee

Perhaps the language we speak makes a difference. I don't know. The other morning, well, maybe it was just yesterday, I gave my pet finches food and water before leaving for work. I thought maybe they would like some nice sounds and put on a cd with the natural sounds of a forest, and a running stream. I opened the door and stood in the doorway, looking out into the day. As I stood there, with the cd playing behind me, a beautiful little bird appeared. It was green and black, small and round. It perched on the edge of the balcony, only a foot or two in front of me. It was looking right at me, into my space. I greeted it with happiness, so unusual was it for a bird to fly right to me, and to hop along the railing right before me. It flew away, and I realized it was attracted to the sounds of my cd, and maybe the sounds of my own birds. This makes me wonder, how do we find the ways to attract what we want to see in our world. We must give the others their beautiful visions, and they will flock to us. We must open the door, in just the right way, and it will surely happen.

"birds sing thru life so why can't we" --REM, Reveal