We often look at our lives wondering what it’s all about.  We are running here and there.  Doing this and doing that, never seeming to get ahead.  There is an ever expanding “to do” list, another pile of dishes to do, clothes to wash, and bills to pay.  We feel we are like little hamsters running in a circular cage.

“Is this all there is?  What’s it all about?”

I am going to suggest that one of our purposes on this planet is to expand.  We first expanded outside of our mother’s womb, then it was outside of our crib, then it was outside of our house, then down the street, then maybe a different town, and for some a different country.  When we expand we explore new territory.  Sometimes that new territory is in the physical world as I just suggested, and at other times, our expansion is on the inside.  We expand our knowledge of the world when we go to school, we expand our ability to communcate and share with others when we enter into relationships, and we expand our understanding of the human condition when we study prayer and meditation.  It’s and on going thing.  There are worlds without end.  A friend of mine once told me, “When you think you have arrived – keep going.  There is more to discover and more to being.”  It’s called etcetera.

It’s in our expanding that we grow.  It’s in our growing that keeps us alive and vibrant.  If we stop expanding we begin the process of dying.  We get rigid in our bodies and in our thinking process.  Children love to explore and play and touch their toes and discover what is just around the next corner.  They are hungry to know.  If you have forgotten the joy of expanding, of discovering, of learning something new, then give yourself a treat and see if there is a new way to do those dishes.  Is there another way to get to work that you haven’t discovered yet.  Is there something new with your partner that you haven’t noticed?  Is there another way to think about the world that is outside of your comfort zone?  Take a few minutes and follow your thoughts.  Is there a wall your mind runs into?  What is on the other side of that wall, the other side of that thought?  Who is thinking that thought?  Take a deep breath and hold it.  How long can you hold your breath?  Who makes your breathe?  Pick up a book and read a paragraph to someone.  Draw a picture, dance to the music on the radio or the music in your head, laugh sildently and then out loud, lie on your belly and look at the grass with a magnifying glass, look into the eyes of someone you care about and watch your thoughts and emotions.  Smile when you look in the mirror, when you walk down the street, when you drive your car.  Expand your physical world – your emotional world – your mental world – your spiritual world.  Life is waiting for you.