What Does This Button Do?

 When my daughter Luci was perhaps four years old, there was this cartoon that she loved to watch called "Dexter's Laboratory".  Dexter was like a mad genius who did experiments in a secret lab under their house.  He had a sister named Dee Dee who was older and curious.  She would go into Dexter's Lab and ask the problematic question for Dexter, "What does this button do?" and before Dexter could say "No, Dee Dee, No!" chaos would ensue.

I can remember looking at Luci at that tender age and thought to myself, I have my own little Dee Dee.  She's curious, imaginative and above all, fearless.

So today, I want to talk about why folks are so afraid to explore the world we live in.  This is not our natural state.  Granted, a healthy dosage of self preservation is good so that we don't do something dumb and get ourselves maimed or even worse killed.  However, most of us have done some really dumb things when we were young and we mostly survived those things unscathed.

As we grow older, we begin to see all the dangers we face:  Heartache, Loss, Failure.  These things become self-limiting beliefs that reign in our natural impulsion to explore and learn the world we are in.  I think that there is a good argument to be made that as we become older, we come across as jaded simply because we grow to become more risk adverse.  Not only that, we care too much about what people think about us and we are aged shamed into "growing up".

Well, if growing up means no longer being curious, no longer learning, no longer experimenting, then how does that differ than just being in prison or dead?  One thing I read lately was a quote by the Stoic philosopher Epictetus: "It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows”.

I think we should naturally be more curious.  I believe if we admit more about what we don't know, then we open ourselves to learning and we can prevent our lives from becoming stagnant.  There are many layers in this onion that we can peal back but for now, I just want to leave you with a challenge:  Try something different by taking a risk you would usually avoid.  Allow that natural curiousity of a toddler who wants to learn everything fill your spirit once more, even if it's just for a few minutes or a few hours each day.  Don't be afraid to see what happens.  Find your bravery.

"What does this button do?"

Push it and find out! Learn and grow from the experience instead of assuming calamity will ensue.