There are many theories about the meaning of life.   I do not purport to be worthy of a mountain top, but I had an epiphany I’d like to share – I found peace in it and hope you do too:

Life is like an amusement park.  Imagine you were given a free trip to (insert your choice here) with the condition that you have to experience EVERYTHING.   When I say “experience”, I don’t mean that great wisdom must be acquired, merely that you participate.

Consider the variety of experiences present in an amusement park.  Not only does the park have kiddy rides, roller coasters and fun houses, but there are also bathrooms, concession stands and maybe even varying weather to deal with.  

Essentially you’re stuck there until you give each attraction, vendor and facility the proper attention.  In the real world, some patrons choose to be at the front gate when the park opens and stay until they’re kicked out.  Others play “speed park” and wisk through everything, skipping things they’ve “been there/done that” before.

But in our scenario, you HAVE to go through all of it – that’s the price of admission.

With these conditions, it’s a certainty that you’ll hate some rides entirely and only part of others.  Some you may enjoy thoroughly – even going on them over and over, waiting in line if you have to for hours.

Now consider how this translates to life.  Not every day will be perfect.  Not every day will be a total nightmare.  Some regular demands on your time will be constant – you’ll have to sleep sometime, eat sometime, etc.  You may have cherished or life-changing experiences, or have a stretch of uneventful time. 

But you can’t “get out of the park” until you’ve done it all.

SO - examine your patterns and directions.  Are you “spending too much time in line?”  Perhaps “repeating the wrong ride?”  Have you even “gotten out of the bathroom yet?”

Hurry up!  There’s a great parade and fireworks show in 15 minutes! 

 

Tags: advice, Life, meaning, wisdom

This entry was posted on Monday, March 1st, 2010 at 10:16 am and is filed under Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.