Are You Open to Adventure?
If you felt a little uneasy at the prospect of embarking on an unknown adventure, rest assured that your reaction was perfectly normal. The fact is that we are rarely comfortable with change and usually prefer the circumstances we know, no matter how uncomfortable, rather than he uncharted waters of the unknown. It’s a natural extension of our inherited survival instincts. But this attitude has a downside. It can act as an impediment to our progress and close the doors to new opportunities and invitations for growth and personal development. Sometimes, we need to be prepared to take our courage in our hands and try something new. Life tends to be much more interesting when we are growing than when we choose inertia and stagnation. Sometimes, we benefit enormously from accepting an invitation to participate in an adventure.
In life, we are often reminded that we can only occupy two states of being. I know that this is a very simplistic way of interpreting the subtleties of our complex and busy lives. But it’s a useful way to remind ourselves of how we might define our willingness to learn and grow. Like fruit on the branch, either we’re growing and ripening towards maturity or we’re rotting and preparing to fall. It’s a little dramatic in terms of symbolism but it helps us to visualise the advantages of continual development versus the risks of clinging to the old, familiar patterns of behaviour that might no longer serve our best interests.
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My hope each day when I look in the mirror is that I am not seeing the finished product. My philosophy is that there is always room for growth, for further development, for deeper layers to explore and integrate into my waking, conscious life. This appetite for evolution demands change and change implies discomfort. Humans, of course, are notorious for avoiding discomfort. But when we seek change as an adventure, as an invitation for fresh, new and exciting experiences, we lose our fear of letting go of our old, redundant attachments. We are no longer the creatures that are defined by our daily habits. We sip from the refreshing waters of change and imbibe the promise of a richer, happier and more fulfilling life.