Let me ask you one question?  If money were no object and you knew you could not fail, what one thing would you change about your life?

I am really not trying to stir up discontent, but I have found that this question often gets people thinking about how comfortable they are, and about what they could do to make their lives just a little more fulfilling.  You see I think that left to our own devices we like to be complacent.  We like to live our quiet routines without having to move to far to the left or right of our comfort zones.  We don’t like the inconvenience of having to make adjustments for others or giving up time or treasure to altruism.  In short, most of us are a little selfish.

Most of us tend to be consumed with making our lives work out for the best.  Few of us ever challenge ourselves in a way that might jeopardize our comfort.  Yes we all need to make a living and support our families, but there are hours in the day that we use solely to recover from the mind-numbing boredom of keeping the machine that is our lives, moving forward.

So, if you could, what would you change?  If you changed that one thing, would it benefit you or someone else?  If you could do anything you wanted to do, what would it be?  Would you change the choices that you have made to reflect a different life for yourself and for others.  Would you change careers, move to a new town,  get a degree, take up running, what would you do?

Whatever that one thing is, take some steps toward it.  Think about ways to make it part of your daily routine.  Shake up your life a little.  Maybe you can’t afford to change your entire life, and maybe you can’t trade in your desk job for a park ranger’s job, but maybe there are ways to just shift your existence a little.

Why am I talking about change?  Because even though we don’t like to change our routine, many of us live our entire lives in quiet desperation, feeling trapped, alone and powerless to make the necessary changes to move toward hope and happiness.  I believe that within each of us is the power to change and since we do control our thinking and our actions, are the only things we can change.

Now, I ask, not what would you change, but what can you change?  Do you have the courage to change what you can?  Step out and change one thing you can, and then another and another…