I remember an old video game with a frog, and a road, and traffic; and if I remember correctly, the object of the game was to cross the road and not become road-kill. The good thing was that if you were squashed, you could come back to life, and if you kept pumping quarters into the machine (yes, I'm that old) you could keep crossing roads forever. The challenge was that the better you got at avoiding traffic, the more traffic there was, and the faster it came at you. And the reward was, as you continued to improve, the better you felt about yourself and you welcomed the ever-increasing complexity.

We often hear in life that 'it is about the journey.' The meaning and purpose is found within the context of the search or the quest. Be that search for Happiness or Truth or Wealth or buttons for the largest button collection in the continental U.S., if we accomplish our goal we then either broaden or extend our search; or find something else to chase. And for the aforementioned objectives (and most others), we will never be satisfied. We will never be satisfied because we will never reach a definitive, consistent state; or we will never find a complete answer; or someone else will surpass us in wealth or buttons.

So taking the lesson from the frog, and applying it to our need for adventure, if our purpose in life is to continually get to the other side, and we are more satisfied (more in tune with ourselves and, do I dare say, happier) when we are challenged, then why do we so often cross the road where there is little or no traffic? Why do we make decisions that are inconsistent with our needs? Why do we ignore the Dark? Why do we so frequently take the easy way?

We cross many roads every day and at many of those crossings we are faced with the decision to either play it safe or take a risk. It is easier, (and often we are expected), to play it safe. But as a start, perhaps one day instead of watching a mind-numbing TV show, we should read a book; instead of multi-tasking, we should focus on 'one' thing; instead of having a beer with our buddies, we should read and discuss poetry with our buddies; (okay - depending on your circle of friends, that might be a stretch); but you understand the point. Cross that busy highway, against the light; swim upstream; take a chance. Like the frog, if you fail, you can pick yourself up and try again. I'm not saying that Happiness or the meaning of life is the punch line to an old joke; nor am I saying it's not; I'm saying it's up to you.

Just be sure you have a pocketful of quarters.