Life is about choices. It is the choices we make which shape our outcomes in life. When we are
children we make bolder choices as we do not have the context of experience out of which fear arises. We follow creeks when we don’t know where they’ll lead, we easily talk to other kids and even adults and we try new things with no concern of the outcome, just the sheer joy of opening to possibility. As we grow older we move further away from the careless abandon that characterizes our childhood as our choices become more calculated with more defined outcomes.

This seems to happen naturally as our responsibilities increase over time and we develop a sense of apprehension about life. This is when life starts to lose its lustre and becomes routine and mundane. We lose that sense of freedom and wonder which defines childhood. So how do we reverse this trend? I suggest experimenting with your life. What do I mean by this?

An experiment is defined as a scientific procedure undertaken to try to make a discovery. In order to make discoveries we often have to take a risk, step out of our comfort zone and face the unknown. This may seem scary at first but true growth only occurs when you are willing to step into the unknown despite your fears and if you’re not growing then you are slowly dying. So when I talk about experimenting with your life, I mean recapturing that sense of wonder about life which lets you try and experience things with careless abandon with no concern of the outcome.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not suggesting that you take senseless and dangerous risks like walking down a dark alley at night in a bad part of town or rock climbing without safety gear. I’m talking about pushing the edges of your comfort zone so that your personal space grows to encompass a greater part of the universe around you which not only guarantees growth but creates excitement, passion and fulfillment in your life.

Examples of this could be talking to a complete stranger in a checkout line, trying a new sport, taking a more scenic route to work, travelling to a country you’d never dream of visiting, spending more time in nature, learning a musical instrument, taking an art or writing class or joining an interest group outside of your usual interests. This is what I mean by experimenting with your life and it is the only way to to find freedom outside the shackles of what enslaves the majority of the earth’s population.

An example from my life is that I am a physician by profession but my childhood dream was always to become a published author. I used to write poetry when I was younger but when I got busy with medical school and my practice, I gave up writing poetry. It was not until a few years ago that my love of writing became rekindled as I started writing a book on what I have learned about healing after taking care of tens of thousands of patients and studying countless books on metaphysics, consciousness and transformation.

I am now happy to say that I am a soon to be published author and am building a platform to try to transform how we approach health, disease and healing. This has forced me to create a landing page, build an email list and do live video on Facebook which has nudged me further outside of my comfort zone into areas where I never would have ventured. As a result I have grown in ways that I could not have previously imagined.

So ask yourself, how could you experiment with your life to lean outside of your comfort zone. You may find yourself travelling farther than you ever imagined and achieving what you previously thought was impossible. Happy experimenting

Nauman Naeem MD