Challenge yourself to live richly
Tuesday, February 5th, 2008 by TheWhisk 
Humans are adaptive creatures. When faced with an obstacle, we change ourselves to overcome it. This is growth. When faced with the same obstacle repeatedly, we generally choose one solution and make it subconcious… And, what could be better? On our drive to work we can think about the woman with the stunning eyes, or work ourselves into a ridiculous frenzy over the new trash company our county has contracted with, and how the new garbagemen all seem so… seedy. These solutions, or habits, allow us to be completely unaware of what we’re doing and focus elsewhere. As a fantastic bonus, our highly evolved brain doesn’t even require us to utter the words Autopilot: Engage; it actually reads our mind! Wait, err..
Please note that this article is part 2 of Flowing Water Meditation. It will make much more sense if you read part 1 first.
Occasionally we become aware of these habits. Unfortunately, this usually only occurs when we’re about to bludgeon a pedestrian with a two-ton metal-and-plastic machine, or something similar. Now, habits can still be a very valuable tool so long as they are used properly, and this is the first part of the challenge: become aware of your habits.
To do this, you must be generally aware, and to be aware you need to cultivate an empty mind. Sound familiar? This is a practical application for the technique you’ve learned! Simply let your mind flow as water various times throughout the day, and make a note of the habits you observe.
The second part of this challenge is to take action once you’ve observed your habits. Do you normally take Front st. to get to the coffee shop? Take Main St. instead. Normally brush your teeth with your right hand? Do it with your left! All of this may sound rather insane to you, but it’s just part of the challenge, to help you grow. Once the challenge is over, you’ll be able to apply your newfound knowledge however you like!
The challenge will let you to observe new stimulus and make new decisions, forging not only a stronger mind, but the perspective required to continue that growth indefinitely. As an example, several years ago my friend hounded me to visit her rural dwelling and go dirtbiking. At first I declined because I was caught up in an intense semester of classwork and a rather involved coding project, not to mention that dirtbiking was well outside my comfort zone, but eventually I gave in. After changing into some old clothes, I discovered the joy of dirtbiking: I rode around on her track, up the hills, around the puddles in the low areas, and around and around several times until I fell off the bike. I realized rather quickly that it was not to my advantage to have the bike still moving with me thoroughly unseated and hanging on only to the handles, and likewise realized in short order that hanging onto the handles caused the bike to go much, much faster. It took me a few moments, but eventually I turned the bike off and came to a rolling halt against a small tree on a hill.
Although this incident shocked me, was insanely fun and took me outside my comfort zone, this story also illustrates several other benefits of the challenge. While I was at this girl’s house, I met her uncle who was planning on creating a rather interesting website. I offered my services and acquired a client on the spot, after a fulfilling day of muddy, sloshy, high-speed, off-roading goodness. Whenever you step outside of your comfort zone, opportunites and challenges for success abound.
How to tackle the challenge
Observing your habits is rather straightforward, but how should you go about choosing which habits to “go against” ? The short answer is this: use your intuition. Whatever you think intuition is - your subconcious mind, or even a greater intelligence - I know from experience that this is the best method for choosing habits to temporarily ignore and comfort zones to step out of. There are no hard and fast rules to the challenge. Make it yours!
By emptying your mind and expanding your awareness, you will bring richness into your life through challenges, new ideas, opportunites and activities. You will also begin to develop a natural gratitude for the amazing complexity of nature and the incredible life you already lead. The true beauty of life’s garden will be yours to behold, and the illusion of a desert shall vanish as a false whisper long forgotten.
February 5th, 2008 at 11:51 pm
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