It’s interesting that in a society fixated on adventure and excitement, so many of us choose to lead lives defined by deeply entrenched routines.
I suspect our fixation on vicarious thrill rides is fueled, in part, by our own real-life tendency toward mindless repetition. Day in, day out, we follow the same old schedules, eat the same old foods, do all the same old activities, have the same old conversations and think the same old thoughts.
Do we love watching white-knuckle sports events and drama-filled reality-TV shows because our own lives have become almost painfully predictable? Is it possible that our attraction to caffeine-and-sugar-packed refreshments has something to do with our struggle to keep from boring ourselves to death?
It’s not that I’m knocking routine. After all, we’ve developed many of our routines in the service of good common sense. Routines provide structure to our lives and give us the stability we need to support grander experiments.
The trouble is, once we get comfortable in our habitual patterns, we may fail to notice when they have outworn their useful purpose, or when new alternatives might serve us better. We may not realize that some of our routines have become ruts.
It’s easy to come home and watch TV every night. It’s easy to do the same workout for months or years on end. It’s easy to play out the same predictable roles and responsibilities at work and home.
But eventually, our synapses and souls get weary of these mundane patterns. And once they get bored enough to begin nodding off, our perceptions get narrower. Our dreams and ideas become smaller. Our minds become more rigid than they were meant to be.
Conversely, brain science demonstrates that actively embracing new experiences and challenges can help us forge new synaptic connections throughout our lifetimes. Developing these new neural networks allows us to think more effectively, flexibly and creatively. And while Alzheimer’s research is still emerging, it’s thought that exercising our minds in this way may support us in staying mentally sharp as we age.
Exploring new ideas and experiences helps open our hearts and minds to new paradigms — new ways of seeing. And the great thing is, once you’ve encountered a second way of seeing, you’re more likely to entertain the possibility of a third and fourth way, too.All of this makes for a richer, more rewarding life experience.
Searching out new experiences isn’t always convenient or comfortable. But I think it is eminently worthwhile. And it doesn’t necessarily have to involve a lot of time or risk.
What might happen if, say, you chose to listen at a time you’d normally be inclined to talk? What might happen if you chose to show up early for an obligation to which you normally arrive a little late? What’s one automatic, mundane choice you’d be willing to give up experimentally — if even just for a single day or night?
The spirit of exploration is something that resides not outside of us, but within us, in our attitudes and perceptions. We can cultivate it by exposing ourselves to new experiences, meeting new people, learning new skills, visiting new places, or simply by giving ourselves permission to veer from our own well-worn, habitual paths.
This month, I invite you to consciously consider what areas of your life might be calling for exploration. Once a week, pick at least one routine and mix it up. You might make a healthy dish you’ve never tried, take an exercise class you’ve never taken, follow a path you’ve never explored, or engage your partner or family in an activity you’ve never experienced together.
Spend some time with a new person, or make an effort to understand an unfamiliar point of view. Do something that makes you just a little bit uncomfortable — and that renders you a little more awake.
Stretching in these small ways prepares us to take wider leaps. From there, it becomes easier to heed the call of the bigger adventures and opportunities that present themselves in our lives. It also becomes easier to rise to our highest callings, most of which lie beyond the threshold of familiarity.
As 20th-century essayist Wilferd A. Peterson advised: “Explore your mind, discover yourself, then give the best that is in you to your age and to your world. There are heroic possibilities waiting to be discovered in every person.”
Here’s to all the exhilarating possibilities that await you.
The idea of the topic is very Good! But it could have been better if it was shorter. Playing or gambling with words and spinning on the idea kills the time and the patience of the reader. Thank you.
My comment is not going to be well worded…but I will say that predictability is something that really depends on what you do…I used to be a skateboarder and when you go out skating you are in your own…you do things other people just aren’t comfortable doing over and over…you are constantly scaling the mountain on a perception based variant of possibility and ways to save yourself and ride away smooth…it’s something you get used to…not only that but it’s power…and I notice in transitioning to weight lifting…people no longer even want to enjoy my predictable nature…it’s too strong…to repetitively engaging and dominant…I cna do the same thing a hundred times a day and learn from that tiny tiny things that say jump five feet into the air off a twelve foot ramp and strike a two centimeter spot on the way down and spin into the two foot vertical and slide out and pump through and then you’ve got twenty feet until jump up in reverse spin around and plant the half inch wide grinder and lay back and shred a twelve foot rail…enjoy the ride…but I can do that until I’m exhausted and then enjoy it…so I can exhaust the system and be delighted I made it impossible to stop me and then move on and do that to anything…I don’t suceed at everything…but I give it a good hard serious dose of my reality and I am sucessful at that…no matter what it is..if I can use a GED to do seven master degree tasks…I will and people know I am serious…the point is that people will use you…and if you aren’t in the minor leagues of things they are used to slowing them down…they will slow you down or crash you or get you delayed or confused because you’re advanced…if it’s fear or aggression or reward or persistance chances are if you’re way beyond others…you’re going to be on your own…so in my transition to weight lifting I’m advancing fast but my will is way more than my knowledge and my finances can afford me…I’m small at 210 lbs…and I was 145…so I’m not making a huge difference because I can lift 300 pounds three sets and I’m doing it with will…with drive…but guess what..I’m also physically disabled…I was almost killed in an accident on a skateboard when I was a kid…I nearly died that night and could’ve died in the years following…I’ve celebrated my sucess of living but it’s time to move on and make some more achievements but it is hard…I’m more mature than my peers here and I’m not doing what they are and I’m not rich…so things are going nowhere…that’s the problem with predictability…I was beating it by being productive and powerful now I am losing to it by being persistant and unprofitable…I simply cannot afford to make the gains I need to be successful at this point in my life…I also am out of inspiration…I am a brilliant person…but the system has defeated me like an old video game…it’s too interactive and predictable…I live the same day over and over and luckily I need that time to work out…but otherwise…I am alone…bored…pretending to be immature…and just without anyone of an equal respect that is just based in being a decent person…because I have no money to go to school and I have always had a problem suceeding at school…so I will not go because I will not suceed and there’s not much I can do with my level of intelligence and the entry levels of school…I just cannot process and pay attention…I am engaged otherwise and i study privately on my own all the time….I really don’t know what to do…how to get into society…I am out growing my peers and past and that’s good…but I am not growing into my own career or any career that is local…I’m just not going to do it…I’ve gone through this over and over and I’m annoyed by it…jobs ive already asked for and applied for then seem promising in years to come…but anything legitimate would’ve been serving me by now…I’m not got to get into all that…I’m saying no is my point there…there’s no politics in that…so it’s not predictable society it’s individuals and thier pretentiousness that is predictable but they think its humorous to be bent in being obnoxious. You have to know the difference…even if you aren’t rich you can still know the reality of the guy you couldn’t catch in the statistics of things…the balances are real….sometimes you’ve just got to know what the guys who are aware they are the winners know…because those people know the real you and why you are no ones in design option…it may out you out of reach and make things hard…but stay true to yourself…if you’ve made that top achievement in your life…hang on to it and don’t let go…people will say it’s past but if it hasn’t paid of in scruples..it’s not gone…it’s in denial…and chances are you just need to move on yourself and be strong and serious and let everyone else grow up or remain immature and sometimes that’s the reality of repetition…people just are lame and you have to just go home and go for a walk..period or exclamation mark or leave it open…the contengency to know or not know…eh, both are annoying and interactive builders….you’re really over the line.