Did you see the story about the Australian 12 year old who booked flights to, and hotels, in Bali, flying there by himself, checking into his hotel, only to be busted when they started looking for him as he didn’t show up for school?
I thought - how awesome.
His mum? Not so impressed!
“Shocked, disgusted. There’s no emotion to feel what we felt when we discovered that he had left overseas,” she said.
I imagine he must be a handful, I get that, perhaps being his mum and dad would be a constant nightmare … however … at 12 years old doing all that by yourself? To me, that is not so disgusting as amazing.
At 12, I was crying at the bus stop when I realised I’d caught the wrong bus to the wrong part of town.
“It was great,” he said. “Because I wanted to go on an adventure.”
YES!
Give him a medal and a pat on the back for being so awesome - and clever too. (Just maybe hide your credit cards.)
I don’t know about you - maybe you have a 12 year old son who is a touch wilful and this just gives you the willies … but I think having a more adventurous attitude is so cool.
Now - you don’t HAVE to go anywhere to do this, you don’t have to reinvent yourself … but even just trying something a little different is such a boost to you.
A new class, a new route home, a new recipe, wandering down that street that you wonder where it goes to, going over and saying hello rather than thinking about it …
You don’t have to play the same old roles, have the same old conversations, get into the same old dramas, wish the same wishes without making them happen …
YOU don't have to, and how freeing would that be?
A touch of bravery and life opens up extraordinarily just with a few different choices.
And why not? As someone once said, there’s free cheese in the mice traps but the mice there aren’t happy.
Stay safe with what you know and have done? Or branch out and try something different, do something different, be someone different.
And why not?
Go well! Arjuna
PS. Want to be a touch more brave? More adventurous perhaps?
In this meditation guide I give you the exact tools that show you your inner limitations and stories and allow you to go beyond them, effortlessly: