“I dare you, who think life is humdrum, to become involved.  I dare you who are weak to become strong; you who are dull to be sparkling; you who are slaves to be kings.”

– William Danforth

The older I get, the more I truly believe that life is what we choose to make it.  We can choose to take advantage of each new day, or we can become bored with the sameness of life.  If our lives seem routine, maybe we need to look at what we bring to the day we have been given.  In the midst of the most repetitive routines, we can always find something different and exciting if we take the time to look.  It is not the routine that needs to change.  It is the attitude we bring which defines how we view our life.  It is a choice.

When we assume that life is something that just happens to us, it is easy to feel swept away by the neverending demands on our minds, our bodies, and our spirits.  We grow weak and tired and listless as we are swept along in the current of a river that just washes us downstream and drops us where it will.  There is no need to be swept away by life.  We can choose, instead, to look with wonder at the energy of the river and join our own energy with its current.  Then, as we join forces with its raging flow, we find ourselves strong enough to direct where we are headed.  We can use the power of the river to propel us toward places we long to go.

When we join forces with the energy, we find that our dull and listless demeanor begins to take on a radiance.  We can sparkle if we dare to.  It is a choice.  And once we truly make choices about our own existence, we find that we are no longer slaves to a dull and demanding life.  Instead we become sovereign rulers of our own domain — kings and queens who rule our lives with dignity and love.  When we dare to choose this abundant sort of life, it is only natural that it will spill over on everyone we meet.  It is the choosing — the inner knowing that the life we live each day will bring us not only sustenance, but abundance — that teaches us to dare, again and again, to make our own dreams come true.

“I dare you, whoever you are, to share with others the fruits of your daring.  Catch a passion for helping others, and a richer life will come back to you.”

– William Danforth

Choose today to live the abundant life that lies all around you and just begs to be seen — begs to be lived.  I dare you.