To you, what makes a life successful?

I have my stock answer to this question. When I go out of this world, if a majority of peeps at my funeral, memorial, or party, whatever, think to themselves he made his corner of the world a little nicer, then I did okay. That’s all I want.

The ability to surrender.
When I surrender I don’t have to deal with fear and worry and life is what it is and I am able to see that for the most part it is good.

Simply living it as it is.

I want to cause more joy than pain, and not screw up my kid too badly. That’s enough for me.

Following The Way.

Work, play and love in satisfying amounts.

Offering and charity.

I don’t know how others see success, but for me I could be content to be doing something I love for a living, that uses my skills, etc…and, even more important, to find someone who can love me for who I am…

A peaceful death.
If a person can live their life so that they don’t fear dying, then they have had a successful life, from their perspective. You’re not leaving loose ends, harboring regrets or fearing retribution.

Even though I am filled with self hatred, I embrace my successful marriage, my faith, and my 36 years of working for my current employer. I have children who love me, friends who care about me, and enough money to retire soon.
I have been successful in being who I am, and regretting my mistakes enough to not be who I am not.

Still searching for that for myself.

@filmfann You’ve got quite a contradiction going there.

@yankeetooter and @Adirondackwannabe… nice.

“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the grey twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.” – Theodore Roosevelt

“Work hard and play hard throughout your working years”. -Me

“Remain physically fit and in good health throughout life into old age”. -Me

“Avoid drugs of all kinds including alcohol and nicotine (A very little caffeine is OK)”. -Me

“Achieve at least a moderate amount of career success is very important”. -Me

“Accumulate at least as adequate amount of money for a comfortable retirement is crucial” -Me.

To love and to be loved. In that regard, I feel very successful. :)

To crush everything in my way that is a threat to my survival.

I just want a simple life. I want to be loved. I want to die painlessly.

I don’t know. I’ve never liked the word ‘success’. I think it’s shallow and over-hyped. Success, to me, implies some kind of a goal. And to me life is not about goals. Life is about living and living is everything from doing the dishes to loving to river rafting on the Victoria river. “A human being can never know what to wish, for it lives only one time and have no possibility to compare it to earlier lives or correct it in the life to come.”

To be the best that you can be & squeeze as much positivity out of life as possible.

Every day above ground and breathing is successful. Life is precarious and precious and we don’t live forever, so act accordingly. I’d like to have written something pertinent that people might want to read after I die, but that would be a conceit and isn’t an indication of success for me.

When you never stop asking questions.

To do whatever you must in order to be in a position to give to others.

Money, time, attention, etc.