I only started smoking this past summer. Lucky for me, I started on some high quality pot. I smoked a bowl of keef the third time I got high, and have had nothing but high grade chronic since.

I try and keep my usage to a minimum. I typically do not smoke more than once or twice every week. And when I do smoke, it's just a bowl or two, and then I ride out the high. I don't sustain it throughout entire days. My university is now on its 6 week winter break, so I'm very tempted to smoke up often since I have nothing to do, but I'm doing pretty well in keeping it down. I am very prone to addiction, so I'm trying not to get into a pattern of habituation and dependence, like I know many smokers do. There are other things in life that are important to me, and I need to give them equal focus.

How has weed affected my lifestyle? It's been so wonderful. As the OP said, it really has made me a more open minded person spiritually, and emotionally. When I smoke, I feel a bond with my surroundings that I just can't feel anymore as I grow older. I smoke because when I do, it's like I'm seeing and experiencing everything for the first time again. Like being a child. It gives me a deep insight into everything, and just like when I was little, I am able to grow from them.

Plus, let's face it, being high feels amazing, and it can be a welcome break to our lifestyles which have become so embedded in routine and fast paced work.

I don't really think in terms of positive or negative anymore. I will just say it has changed me, and I think any change is "positive".