Summer in Dubai and this time for our festive ?Dubai Summer Surprises?. In a land of festivals and shopping seasons galore, we would have heard this familiar rant aplenty of times ‘Try your luck, win a prize’!
This call throws me into a delirium. Now am I, supposed to kick a football through a tyre, or hook a glass bottle with an opener, or knock a pyramid of cans with an apology they call a ‘ball’? Almost enthralled, I reach out to my purse, wanting to take a shot for the fun of it.
I am sure many have suffered this malady one time or another. But do you carry this spirit into your real world when the jamboree is all over?
Trying your luck is an attempt at something that has a debatable payoff. How many play just for the thrill of it? Does the prize have to be of consequence to take up a challenge? In this busy world, have we lost the penchant to do something, we once boasted of? Do we, have to win? Somewhere along the way, have we lost that child within us?
Come to think of it, when was it last, you bumped into someone who was truly fearless? A someone, brimming with confidence, absolute enthusiasm and the bluster to take up impossible risks. Prospects are that, this person can hardly walk, let alone string a sentence together.
Yes, that most fearless person on the planet, is this little being called ?child?!
When we were young, we believed, we could do absolutely anything. We played, experimented and pushed the boundaries as far as one could. We scorned the elders for their sheer incapacity to comprehend the way we lived. Why? Because it was fun our way and we were curious about the world that we lived in. We constantly searched out unexplored territories with such gay abandon, often with little consideration to the accompanying risks. When did all this change? Slowly but surely we started adopting some of their philosophy. Most of us, as parents are convinced that we are nothing but invincible.
According to a study, a child has heard the word ?NO? more than 40,000 times, before he has even reached the age of 5. Warning children of life’s dangers is a great approach to take as a parent, but as a grown up, are we aware that any childhood conditioning could hold them back from taking intelligent risks?
Many a times you would have wanted to try out something but did not allow yourself to give it a go and later regretted it. This could easily be linked to your early associations with risk taking. We must remember that we don’t always have to play safe. Often our greatest triumphs have come from our courage to dare.
Life is profound, mysterious and full of meaning. The underlying currents of emotions in us,- happiness, sadness, anger, excitement, entwine like an argument, blending and playing off each other, like an exhilarating piece of art.
To live our life, we need to continually grow and expand our capabilities no matter what the outcome is. When we step outside of what is comfortable, we not only become more proficient at evaluating risk, but we enhance our risk handling instinct. As a result we find the prizes of life flowing naturally to us.
We need to keep our lives moving. Water that doesn’t run gets stagnant, and the same is true of our lives. We need to be willing to try new things and be open to new experiences. We also need to trust that the process of life will take us to where we want to go and take advantage of all opportunities that come to us.
The secret to ?taking a chance? is, to reconnect, with that fearless little person inside us. Make life fun again by re-awakening the inquisitive parts that yearn for growth. Rekindle the initiative to be more and do more. Do things for the pure joy of the experience. Climb a tree, try bungee jumping and if you pass a puddle on the street don?t step around it, jump into it! So what if the others think you have gone round the bend? Well! For one, they are missing something in their lives or secretly harboring a grudge that they cannot ‘ let go’ of themselves??
If you can capture this enthusiasm for living, you won’t have to worry about the small prizes anymore. Your Life will be One Great Prize.
The composition of our lives is made up of a string of melodies (thoughts, expressions, beliefs, values, concepts) flowing within the mind. The synchronization can be complex or simple and sometimes challenging too, but the combination it perceives is as beautiful or awesome ?rendering you speechless.
Author: Sylvia DSouza- UAE