There’s a common misunderstanding among most people that the main “goal” of life is to avoid pain and pursue pleasure (or at least to try to get comfortable). A lot of effort and attention is put on getting somewhere ‘better’, achieving something ‘different’, changing or improving ourselves, and getting more stuff so that we can feel better or be happy later. A much more rewarding, kind, and adventurous approach to life is to develop an attitude of alert curiosity and awareness, regardless of whether our experience is seen as positive or negative. When we overcome prejudice and pettiness and the need for everything to happen the way we want, we open ourselves to a more full, joyful, passionate experience of life and as we endure both pain and pleasure we learn a lot about ourselves and life in general. We can also discover that we are already enough, and we already [...]