What does it mean to lead an adventurous life? What does it mean to live one’s life to the fullest?

I used to believe that these things meant climbing mountains, jumping off of cliffs or swimming with sharks. They meant sight-seeing, trekking across the globe, and having a hearty case of wanderlust. They meant setting my eyes upon new seascapes, landscapes, and all things unfamiliar. I used to believe that in order to truly live life to the fullest, I’d have to do it elsewhere; I’d have to come to know the fullness of life through the absence of the familiar.

As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.”

Maybe the real adventure, the true joie de vivre, means exploring unmapped territory within ourselves, and trekking through the deepest recesses of our hearts and souls.

Maybe being an adventurer means slowing way, way down to taste life in all of its extravagance, and really putting to good use the incredible power of our senses. An adult eye has about 12 million light sensitive cells, can detect 10 million color hues, and consists of over two million working parts, not to mention the incredible power of our other senses, and the complexity and intricacy of our minds.

Can you tell me what you saw, smelled, tasted and touched yesterday, in great and overwhelming detail? What would happen if we rooted ourselves in the now, and sucked the marrow out of the moment, just as it is?

Living life the fullest just might mean broadening our perceptions and senses, and doing away with narrow, superficial, and guttural living. Rather, when we open our miraculous senses and minds to the wonder of this experience and the absolute sheer joy in the fullness of the moment, we might just come to know what it means to adventure and experience this life. We will no longer simply be passive by-standers wondering if we may find ourselves somewhere in a distant place, but ever-present, awe-stricken experiencers of the right here and the right now.

This way, even on our most ordinary days, we can be vast, brilliant voyagers through the frontiers of our very own lives. And, before we venture outside of ourselves, let us first pursue coming to realize our own potential through our conscious awareness, creativity, passion and spontaneity.

With that being said, here is my new manifesto—a few ways I can live my life a little fuller, and venture into my own self:

1. Fall madly in love with yourself, and your life.

2. Whatever you’re afraid to do—do it. Take chances.

3. Pay whole-hearted, conscious attention to every moment.

4. Live your dreams and share your passions. Seize opportunity.

5. Be open to inspiration.

6. Forget old, limiting stories about who and what you are. Be new in the moment.

7. Practice loving-kindness and unconditional love.

8. Make all choices from your heart: expansive, soul-stirring choices.

9. Stop over-analyzing—life is simple.

10. Let yourself go—the world is yours.

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Editor: Catherine Monkman

Photo: Colourized/Flickr