Emerson: This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it. Why this is especially true now:

The winds of change can be used like a kite to lift you higher or like a tumbleweed to toss you about. - Orrin Woodward

Good economy, bad economy, flat economy, rising economy; it doesn't matter. People can blame all sorts of outside circumstances for their woes, but when it gets down to it, it all comes down to how you react to what's going on around you. What matters is what's in your head and your heart. Take action on yourself, and the rest will take care of itself.

Life is what you make it. If you make the best of what you have, no matter what you have, you'll always have the best. - Eunique Jones

#adventurebolt living: Do what fits you. Use your own style, be unique; you will be rewarded by having no regrets.

How do you find clothes that fit you? Well, if you're like me, you need to try them on. Life is kind of like that...you probably need to try a bunch of different things before you know what fits you.

My daughter wanted to play a lot of sports this year in school, so she picked volleyball, basketball and swimming. She learned last year she didn't like track, and this year she found out basketball involves a lot of...running. Now she knows that volleyball and swimming "fit" her the best for future sports efforts.

What about you? What things fit you the best? What are you good at, or what do you like to do? The more you try, the more you narrow down the field, and pretty soon you're finding that you're spending more and more time on the things that really matter to you.

Then, the more you are doing what you want to do, you will start to find unique ways of accomplishing things and expressing yourself. The challenge is to continue to build your confidence in expressing your unique style in the accomplishment of your passion, even if you're working hard at it.

Remember, you will have the biggest impact on that which is most important to you, and you will find your greatest reward and the least amount of regret in doing that which you have always wanted to.

"Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing."-- Theodore Roosevelt

Want to do what you've always wanted? Here's how to determine what an #adventurebolt feels like to get you started:

Sometimes the spirit of an adventurebolt is captured in verse and illustrates a broader sense of the ideal. Most of the time, you will identify and adventurebolt by a feeling, rather than some sort of rational thought process or planning. This is why it can be very complicated to pursue adventurebolts at times, because we're not always in touch with what our feelings are about a specific situation.

I thought maybe some kind of guide would be helpful to define some of these feelings, so that you can identify with these themes when they occur in your life. They are usually spontaneous and fleeting, so this can make it extra challenging to grab onto these opportunities when they arise.

This short poem highlights the dynamics of adventure without defining what the particular adventure is:

"Adventure" - by Jenny Saravia

Adventure is what I long for

That excitement, that something new

To escape the typical

Adventure is curiosity untamed

Adventure is fresh air after being suffocated

Adventure is anything out of the ordinary

Adventure is like a bright and colorful flower in an arid desert

Adventure is bravery unleashed

Adventure's flavor is rich, its scent pungent and intoxicating

Adventure is exploring and discovery of the unknown

Adventure is like a pulsing heart in love

Adventure is your life feeling alive for once

This is what an adventurebolt feels like...what it is, and how long you hold onto it, is up to you.

How different would your life be if you regularly made different choices? Here's one possibility:

You never know what can happen. As I was driving home the other day, I
was driving through some of the slow traffic when I saw a freeway
reader board that said there was a crash just ahead.

Rewind 45 minutes. I was preparing to leave to head back to the office
so that I could try to beat the evening rush-hour traffic that I knew
would inevitably be clogging the freeway. As I was getting ready to
pull out, I drove by one of our offices that recently closed down, and
I remembered that there was some computer hardware that needed to be
picked up and brought back to our main office.

I was anxious to get on the road so that I could beat the regular
evening traffic, but I also knew that this stuff needed to go back to
the office. What to do? My conscience got the best of me, so I
turned back around and loaded up my trunk and the back of the car. I
then headed out later than usual knowing that I was going to be in
heavier traffic, but then, as I passed the sign that mentioned the
crash, it got me to thinking...

What if I had left at my originally planned time, and decided not to
be helpful by picking up the computer equipment? Could I have been
involved in that crash? The timing would have been just about right.
Great stuff for a novel, there. It's the whole
how-would-my-life-be-different-if-I-made-different-choices scenario.
Interesting to think about, but ultimately I'll never really know.

What we do know is that our life is affected by choices we make, but
we are never completely in control, because events outside our control
can still affect outcomes. Natural disasters happen, traffic
accidents occur, etc. But the stuff we do have control over – how we
take care of ourselves, how we pattern our work life, who we choose to
be around and invite into our lives – all of these things play into
the larger imprint of our life. Make the best choices to be as
intentional as possible, and then roll with the punches.

Works for me.

Filed under: possibilities