"Twenty years from now, you'll regret the things you didn't do more than the things you did" - Mark Twain.

One of my favourite quotes.

Good article. time-poor is the funniest expression I've ever heard. We all have the same amount.

It's the kiddies I feel sorry for. These days all their free time seems booked up with all sorts of structured activities. Then you have the child abuse that is 3-4 hours homework after school.

I suppose it stops people thinking which is the aim of it all.

'Keep at bay the nagging feeling that you should be doing something else. This takes a bit of training'

Really? I must be gifted. I've never needed training for that.

My day began at 5.30am when my 83 year old husband reminded me that I wanted to be gone from our home by 6.30am. In the meantime I had to stoke fires, attend to emails, release ducks, geese and chicken from their overnight pens where they are protected from foxes, feed the cat and dog (not to mention myself) and measure the overnight rainfall.
Then I had to drive approximately 250km to be at a retirement home by 10.00am to attend my 93 year-old mother's birthday party. There were a few other things I did on the return 3 hour drive home.
The joy of my day was that I handed my mother the first autographed copy of my book Wildflowers, wilderness and wine which I will be launching at the Stanthorpe Art Gallery on Tuesday 28th July.
For anyone who is truly interested in what it is a life lived to the full, look up the name of my book on Google, which will lead you to my other interests. That's right! Check out Wildflowers, wilderness and wine.

Yes 'time poor' is a really strange saying. However, I did feel time poor when I worked full time particularly in the last 15 years of my working life, and I worked 40 years give or take a few taken off for kids (no maternity leave). Now, however, I can stay in bed on cold mornings til 7.30 or 8.00. Stay home if I want and read or watch TV or just look out the window and daydream or think about happy times when I was young and the lovely things in life. It's wonderful. Anyone who has worked particularly the last 15 years knows how draining it becomes. I certainly don't feel guilty to do as I please when I please. It's wonderful.I worked hard for it and I enjoy not being productive.

Take care, push, push, push for more, more, more is what this society sees as the norm, it is not normal. Life should be enjoyed, it doesn't last that long so enjoy.

In my experience the people who scorn free, unproductive time are constitutionally incapable of relaxing or enjoying time off. Some personality types are like that. It's just the modern era which gives them a false sense of virtue.

Apart from that, the punctuation in this article was atrocious. Is there no pre-pub editorial review for articles on OLO?

I think the key to enjoying our existence is in feeling useful. We are told if we are Christian and go to almost any mainstream church, that we are made in God’s image. Some Churches tell us we can pray and have our prayers answered. Some try to frighten us into submission, with terrifying visions of a fiery hell. I much prefer the vision and teachings of one which says if you accept Jesus Christ as your personal saviour, you will enjoy life to the full.

This particular message is filling churches, and the churches so filled are full of people who are so obviously enjoying their existence that it is infectious. One of the biggest is Hillsong, and its impact as a life changing force is the result of its music, and ministry through modern media. By virtue of the internet, you tube, television broadcasts, and lots of other activities, the message that Almighty God does not mind if you have fun, and prosper doing so, is being spread far and wide.

There are some churches that almost apologise for asking for a contribution to the work of the Almighty. The big church I attend has no such inhibitions and by asking for a share of the blessings that we go to church to celebrate, to be used by the House of God, to bless those less fortunate than you are, then it makes its members feel useful. Add to that the delivery of interesting and helpful sermons retelling the stories from the Old and New Testaments with particular relevance to the enjoyment of life, and celebration of our existence as useful contributing human beings.

Recently a sermon was delivered illustrating the importance of belonging. By belonging to a congregation, of like minded people the collective mind of the body of Christ is called into existence, and all sorts of wonderful things seem to happen. Supernatural things, like cures for cancer, even though doctors say there is no hope, are reported and shared with the rest of us. Life is worth living is the message. Be blessed