ADVENTURE

'The only two certainties in life are death and taxes.' This quote is often attributed to Mark Twain but it can be traced back to a letter written by Benjamin Franklin. Life is an adventure. We arrive on this planet with empty heads. We can't remember where we were before we got here and we have to learn from scratch how to control our physical form. And does it get easier after that? Even those who feel completely sure about who they are and where they are going are operating, to some extent at least, on a series of assumptions which will sooner or later need to be revised. Treat what's happening in your life as an adventure and it will become so much easier to enjoy.

If life ever proves difficult for any length of time, we build psychological barriers. We want to protect ourselves from disappointment, so we raise our guard and lower our expectations. But the very shield that we use to deflect the intensity of adversity can end up keeping the forces of fortune at bay. If we dare not look up for fear of seeing the enemy, then we may not look up even when a friendly face looks down on us, sometimes it is safe to relax.

If the traffic delays us on our way to an appointment, we get irritable. None of us like to be late. But what if, as a result of that delay, we then have an experience that might never have otherwise come our way? What if we meet someone and form a new friendship? What if, while waiting for the plan to be rescheduled, we idly browse some source of information that awakens us to an opportunity we never knew existed? A pleasing parallel can be drawn, between such scenarios and the turn that your life is about to take,

 Imagine how different everything would be if only this were a sensible world, full of sensible people who only ever did sensible things. You are currently so aware of all that's crazy and ridiculous that such a concept sounds appealing. But what's sensible about having fun? What's sensible about spontaneity and creativity? What's sensible about falling in love, cracking a joke or relishing the magic of a moment? A misguided effort to be too sensible, is actually making you too stiff and serious. Really, it is time to relax.

Who are we to say what is or is not possible? When we make such statements, we draw upon our own imagination and experience. Both of these, whilst valuable and extensive, are limited to some extent. Inevitably, there will be things we have never known and ideas that have never crossed our minds. Understandably, these will seem most unlikely to us. But life is full of surprises and some of these can be very pleasant. Events oblige you to re-evaluate your view of what's restricted or constructively inaccessible.

We ought to be careful about who we allow ourselves to love and what we allow ourselves to like. We should run full background checks on all potential partners in just the same way as companies do when appointing executives. And before declaring that we have a favourite culinary or artistic interest, we should commission reports on the likely future of that commodity and the health and safety implications. But you can't change a choice that your heart has already made, so you had best pursue it gracefully.

There's plenty to complain about. There's much that is wrong, unfair, unsatisfactory. And that's true for all of us! 

It is not the only truth and certainly not the overriding one. We could just as easily list all that deserves to be appreciated gratefully. Indeed, if we were really to dig deep into the good pile, we would soon fish out several perfectly viable reasons to celebrate. Do we abdicate our duty to be realistic when we choose to focus on the positive? Of course not. We simply improve the reality itself! 

What  can spoil the pleasure? Perhaps just one thing. Discovering that someone you don't like very much has also encountered such a windfall and that they have found twice as much money as you! Beware of false comparisons, and be glad of the gains you are about to make.