Each year as fall and winter approach, the animals and birds start their journey to their winter homes. Some of us will do the same as we move to a warmer climate to avoid the cold during those cold winter days. It’s interesting how this approach to life also impedes in our daily thoughts. How we tend to migrate to what make each of us comfortable. Some of us like to curl up on a sofa or our favorite chair, read a book or watch one of our favorite movies. Some will throw on the running shoes and hit the trails. One might argue that they are not the same. Knowing some of the people that get such great joy out of running I would argue they are. The big difference is that for the runner you must first work at it until your body starts looking for that rush you get. Even then once you have reached that level you have settled into what makes you comfortable. It becomes our mental state of mind. One might have a glass of a favorite wine, lite the fire in the fire place and sit back and let our mind and body slide into deep relaxation. We have trained our brain in a way that fits our desires, what makes us comfortable, what we feel gives our life stability and in many ways purpose.

While running, walking, reading, or just meditating is a great thing and each of us should desire for some level of this in our lives, it becomes important to realize that when we get to a point that we are content with our daily lives, we have allowed some level of complacency to settle in. If we are a runner and enjoy that rush we get, as our body ages we need to recognize that maybe it is time to change to taking brisk walks instead. If we are a reader we may need to explore new authors to gain new perspectives. Maybe it is looking at the other side of a topic that we feel strongly against. We should not allow complacency to inhibit our ability to look outside the box. We should look to reinforce our current beliefs or possibly altering our position just a little if we find that we were not quite correct.

Opening one’s mind to things outside our comfort zone is difficult. Our subconscious mind drive our feelings. Many times we dismiss thing around us just because we didn’t see them or we dismissed the thought before we took the time to think about it just because we didn’t agree or thought it was a waist of time. It truly takes a conscious effort to eliminate complacency from our lives.

I once asked myself the question “What is this life all about anyway?”.  Allowing myself the freedom to explore this thought, raised the key question about life in general. Did I evolve from something or was I created by someone. Logic would say of course I was created by my mom and dad, but what created that egg that I came from? How did this all start?

Watching the discovery channel, I was being told that it all started millions of years ago. That my great, great————, great grand father was really just a single cell that randomly happened.  If this is really the case than I guess that we really are only on this earth for what we call our life time and once this is over we just decay away too nothing but a memory in someone’s mind. But how could this cell be randomly started and have built into it or possibly over time develop the DNA requirement to make me into a human complete with a brain and a mind to think with. Is it then possible that I was created? If so, then I do have a real purpose. Maybe there is more to this life and possible even death.

To explore these questions is something each of us should attempt to do. We should not just accept what we are told on TV, in our museum’s,  in our schools and even in our place of worship. We need to decide for ourselves what is true and to do this we have to overcome the complacency of our mind. Directing our lives and not allow someone else to control our thoughts and beliefs can be difficult. The satisfaction of expanding our knowledge, allowing ourselves to stand firmly on our beliefs, never hiding from a discussion, always being able to have open dialog with those who have a belief different than ours, is the key to a full and robust life.

So until tomorrow when the sun comes up again, I will continue my quest. Please feel free to join me on my adventure and chime in anytime. Your thoughts and ideas are welcome.