What would you choose?

I recently came across an interesting exercise, in which you are asked to read a paragraph about two very different sorts of lives, and choose which one you would prefer to live. Choice one: the world adores you and bows to you, and all is beautiful, comfortable, and glorious…with a catch. In the other, you live the very life you are leading now. Go ahead, read the choices, and answer any or all of the questions below. And please share some of your more surprising or personally illuminating responses in the comments section!

Have I already made this choice? Many times? Have I ever awakened from a wonderful dream and somewhat reluctantly entered the “real world?”

Have I ever had a dream that I would re-enter forever? What is it about “real life” that competes so easily with dream worlds which have their wonderfully intense emotions and activities? What can I do to be more aware of this value I place upon my “real life?”

How is my childhood now like a dream I have had? Would I re-enter and relive my childhood?

What pleasures of life have now passed “forever” and are now something “outgrown?” My childhood toys? My youthful desires? My adult plans? Which of these are now like dreams I have had but do not need to re-run? What parts of my life right now are transitioning into “old news” that no longer is alluring?

How do I spot the future towards which my present life is pointing? What can I do to make the transitions easier?

How does ordinary life normally “process” my “desire sets?” What is it about the passage of time that transmutes and/or extinguishes desires?

After I die will any part of my life escape this “dreamification” process? What will I look back on that I will want to re-enter? Will I be “finished with desires” when I die?

How do I know the “evolutionary” value of “getting rid of a desire?” What do I gain from doing so?

How do I embrace “me now” when I know it will one day be “that old me?”

How am I always like a child?

How is my future wrought from my innocence?