How to Keep Life Exciting

Life occurs in the mind.

What ever you think of it becomes your reality. If you think your life is great, it is. If you think your life is boring, it is. If you like some parts and hate others, you could work to bring up the low points.

One of the tricks we fall back on is to stimulate the mind by shopping or eating something that is probably not great for us or consuming alcohol or drugs. Thinking about sex certainly stimulates the mind and even seeing someone attractive of the opposite sex stimulates the libido for a second.

Sometimes our need for excitement turns into addictions that create more difficulty in getting our life on a positive track. It is better to work on positive stimulants. Challenging ourselves to improve who we are and expressing ourselves where there is risk can create a lot of adrenaline.

Man’s happiest state as defined by neurologists  when the brain is pumping dopamine or serotonin. This state is called flow and we also know it as “being in the zone”. It results from engaging in activities that we have practiced and become competent. In the zone we can engage in the activities and shut out all outside distractions.

In the zone we are not thinking about judgment or reward. We are in it purely for the pleasure of the activity. I certainly enjoyed running daily and at my seven minute mile clip, the world melted away. I was keeping track of my breathing and monitoring my pace and soon I had runner’s high.

In my daily surfing, I soon get into the zone. After I have ridden a few waves and feel the pace of how the waves are breaking and measured the line up, the challenge is to get as many rides as possible and get as much carving out of a wave as I can until I am too tired to pop up.

But we can also raise the bar on our daily activities. In my writing, I am always taking on new projects that are going to require research or challenge my thinking. In my little businesses, I am trying to create uniqueness and market share in my niche.

Our health and fitness can always be improved to create better bodies, brains and spirit. Having the discipline to add good foods and avoid the bad foods is more than most people can manage. Increasing exercise to newer levels is a discipline that often gets dropped after we join the gym.

Reading new materials and getting interested in foreign countries, science, history, art, cooking, horticulture, or any of a million topics stimulates the brain. The brain has plasticity which means we can learn up until the day we die. The brain forms new patterns when new information is received and would allow us to take on new hobbies or new careers at anytime we choose.

Forming and improving personal relationships is very stimulating to our libido. Making new friends and putting ourselves in situations where we have to talk to strangers is a challenge that raises the bar from living in our comfort zones.

Getting out of our comfort zones creates risk and risk creates adrenaline. Adrenaline junkies in extreme sports live outside the comfort zone. We don’t have to risk life and limb to get the adrenaline, we just have to keep raising the bar and engaging in new or practiced activities in the pursuit of perfection.

You don’t have to be in the army to be all you can be. You can rise every morning and set a challenging agenda that creates personal risk and promises satisfying new plateaus.