Growth, Change and Living the Life You Deserve

"What's the difference between a plant that is alive, and one that is not? Easy - the one that is alive is GROWING. The one that's not is either dead, or soon will be." - Unknown

I believe this is a good metaphor for life. I know in my own experience I feel most alive when I'm growing, learning, and experiencing new things (people, places, situations, challenges). I also know how easy it can be to get stuck in a rut...get complacent, "settle".

Those who are happiest and most successful in this world are the ones who embrace this fundamental truth. They actively seek out new experiences. They go after what they want, recognizing that in order to get it they may have to take different actions than they have up until this point. After all, if you continue doing what you've always done, you'll continue getting what you've always gotten. So to have new experiences, often you have to be a new you. You have to change.

What is it that we fear so much about change? Why is it scary? Why do many of us know that we need to change, and even want to, but still don't? Simple. Because we fear death. Our ego holds on with a literal death-like grip to "who we are" at any given moment or stage of our life. True growth and change requires that concept of self to die.

We think what we have is security, safety, comfort, familiarity - but these are the prisons that keep us from living on that "edge" of life where we truly feel alive from moment to moment.
I have always loved the concept, coined by one of my favorite authors Robin Sharma ("The Monk who Sold his Ferrari") - "Die daily." If today was your last, how would you live it?

When you face your mortality on a daily basis, you embrace life from the perspective of a person in their last days on this earth - with gratitude, appreciation, and awe. From this perspective, you embrace all of the experiences life throws at you, and seek to have as many more as possible. You value the very diversity that would otherwise scare you and keep you in your comfort zone. This passion will be the driving force that helps you break free from the constraints of your ego's fear of death. It will help you to grow and change and open up to the your best self. Imagine the personal power you would have if you lived everyday as if it were your last. Imagine the colours and textures your life could take on. Well, guess what - you deserve it! Step up, die today, and live to the max.