Whenever someone would ask me how I survived the past, I wasn't certain that I had survived it. Survival seemed to me to be a daily existence of unwanted struggle in which I struggled for many years, I awakened each day wondering if this should be the day I checked out - for good. So my answers were mixed, ho-hum responses loosely related to religious beliefs with a silent fear of hell and of even the unknown. That is what kept me here for a while and then again, even this barrier would was overcome by the despair that grew.

Survival and thriving, if deep in my heart I wanted it, could be achieved and most of all, living could be enjoyed. How many of us struggling day to day with the pressures of living, those of us who struggle with the coping with life's uncertainty, the twists and turns of fate and what many believe is destiny, how many understand what it's all about and why to make one choice to live versus one to die? This often emanates from a question of existence and whether there is any meaning at all to one's life experiences.

These are questions that many of us do not deal with until we or someone we care about are on the deathbed, or are already gone. And yet, some others know the secret to surviving and thriving and have little trouble navigating life's issues. They, however seeming menial their economic lifestyles are, know how to ride the tides of life. But for millions of who have lived in the vacuums of depression and from loss, many are left only with many questions and disabilities from suffering setbacks. And for them, the questions will not wait a lifetime. The questions in an individual's lifetime drives the individual to either success or madness, and sometimes just a numbing existence. Do you know someone stuggling with these issues and if you do, what do you do to help; or do you just leave one to their own devices because the problem is overwhelming. What are your thoughts on some ways to illustrate meaningful purposes for life and living and how would you illustrate the differences between the two as well as apart from existence, although all three make of the reality of life for each of us. And while each of us, due to individual experiences and knowledge, perceive reality in very similar and very different ways, the fact is that all of us are subject to the same universal forces to move, change and grow and pass through these experiences gaining some development or evolvement from where we were before subjected to the new winds of change through force.