The whole purpose of life is to experience the pull between ego and soul.

I was reading through one of Jodene’s blog posts and the responses to it and I was overwhelmed by the propensity we have to pontificate over peace, happiness, eternal love and joy … concepts that the soul is only too familiar with. So why do we seek this with such vigour when we are here to experience the pain, anxiety, fear and confusion that comes with having both the ego and the soul? They are so a part of the experience of life: these moments that we so naturally dread and wish to avoid. They give perspective and balance. Without these experiences life would be a monotone of even keel nothingness. We would move from one day to the next expecting nothing but the usual happiness and peace … fooled into believing that we should always focus on the positive and pay no attention to the other side; the side so vital to the experience of life … the side that will give you growth.

Approaching the moments of confusion, pain and anxiety with innocence and the same enthusiasm that we have for the good times is the greatest gift we can give ourselves. Without them the journey would not be the amazing adventure it is.

Have fun … or not. Both states are special.

2010 can be fun – it’s our choice.

Sometimes one of the hardest things to do is have fun. We find every possible reason not to.

Next year South Africa hosts the World Cup. The country has been abuzz with talk of “2010” for four years now. For four years we’ve been looking forward to hosting the biggest event on the sporting calendar. Yet we have yet to get excited. We have yet to start enjoying the fact that we will be the centre of the sporting stage in a year’s time. There is still concern that we will not be able to host it; until recently we even believed that there was a chance that FIFA would move the event. Newspaper reports still focus on the reasons why we will not be able to host a successful event even though FIFA is confident.

Last Saturday a journalist pointed out that there are still no good news stories going around on how South Africa has almost completed the stadia, has upgraded transport systems and is successfully hosting the Confederations Cup. No, instead the papers are filled with the news that the Egyptian soccer team’s hotel rooms were robbed, once again highlighting the crime in the country, despite reports on how this has happened across the world at large sporting events.

So when does the fun begin? When do we start enjoying being the centre of attention and hosting such a great event? We should start before we miss it.

How’s the event you’re hosting that you call “life”? No matter what is happening it should be fun. Even the low points hold anticipation of the high. It is so tempting to take life seriously but it is more refreshing to just let all things go and to approach the days with innocence, purity and trust. Choosing fun does not mean then that you have control of the outcome though, which actually makes it more fun because you never know what will happen! Just as we don’t know how the World Cup will go. All we know is that we can choose to enjoy it!

So choose fun today, tomorrow and in 2010. And enjoy not knowing the outcome.