STOP DEFINING. JUST EXPERIENCE

Last year in November, two words both defined and liberated me at the same time:

Just experience.

It wasn’t a suggestion, it was a command. I had been looking at ways to simplify my life. Things had gotten a bit too complicated, to the point that I was micro-analysing some things, and then on the other hand, blatantly sweeping big fat elephants under the rug. I was lost and needed clarity. And then came those words.

I don’t need to get into the context of the epiphany. If you look at those words carefully, they are both the alpha and omega of what you need to know in your life.

I accept there will be times in life when you must search in-depth for the answers. You may need to go over things with a fine-tooth comb to really delve into the core of the situation. And then at other times, you need to just take top-down approach and lightly skim over the specifics. But the biggest picture still remains;

Just experience.

I have come to gain a lot in life by being inquisitive, looking for patterns in problems, and finding innovative solutions which encompass what I have gleaned.

God, I sound like a scientist…

But… sometimes there is no answer. Sometimes you’re not supposed to know the answer then and there. Sometimes life hasn’t even defined the answer, and all you’re perceiving is unintelligible mumbo-jumbo. Sometimes you’re just not ready. Sometimes you need to just let go of control and,

Just experience.

Luckily, when I had my epiphany, I had been fortunate enough to unknowingly be cultivating a “just experience” attitude. I just hadn’t defined it in those terms. And here is where the act of defining stifles the experience of experiencing. When you define, you put parameters based on what you know, and essentially reject other things that may be beneficial to expanding your experience. And definition is a form of control; and it is only once you relinquish control, that you let life take you by surprise.

Taking the good with the bad and putting it down to experience is the wisest practice. You have free will to choose some experiences in your life, but trying to block and control the others deprives you of a full life experience. Every experience in life is a lesson, and only these lessons can define and shape you as a person. There are a lot of pleasant experiences which fill us with hope, happiness and determination, where others just leave us alone, lost and drained. But it is confidence in the act of experiencing that needs to be maintained. The knowledge that you are always moving forward, always making progress, always becoming a more abundant individual.

When you let life define you, you are no longer confined to defining it.

So just experience.

(Subliminally, I hope I have used the word “experience” enough times for it to enter your subconscious! :) )

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