Since there are so many things in life which may attract our attention, there is a persisting need for us to return to essentials. Some things we do and some ideas we entertain only waste our time and energy, but they give us nothing in return.

Here is the question I often ask myself: "What makes me fully alive?" I am in a constant search for new ways to look at life, which would make it more meaningful and satisfying. I believe that this is a reasonable course of action for any person in this world. If anyone has consciousness, let him/her live consciously.

Scott Peck begins his famous book, "The Road Less Travelled" by saying that life is difficult. There is a grain of truth in this statement - but I cannot accept it as wholly true. There is another way to look at life experience which I would like to present to you. Life can be seen as an adventure.

I agree with Scott Peck that we shouldn't expect life to be free from challenges. But I wonder how many people stumbled across the first phrase of his book and quit reading before he became more optimistic. The fact is, we know that life is difficult - even if we don't admit it verbally. What we need is a way to explain those difficulties to us, so that we would view ourselves not as victims of blind fate, but as conscious creators of our life. We need positive, uplifting vision. This vision can be acquired if we accept life as an adventure.

Happily enough, our contemporary culture provides us with vivid images to support such vision. Think about thousands upon thousands books and movies about adventures of all kinds - "The Lord of the Rings", "Harry Potter", "The Wizard of Oz" - to name just a few. It is interesting to notice that there is a specific pattern in all those stories. This pattern, if we'll think about it, perfectly applies to us.

Yes, every human life can be seen as an adventure. There are no exceptions. Even if we live in the same place and do the same kind of work for many years, there are adventures available for us. There are adventures in relationships. There are adventures of soul and spirit. There are adventures in God.

But what can we say about patterns in all these adventure stories? Let us take, for example, "The Wizard of Oz".

We read about the girl by the name Dorothy who was transported to the Land of Oz by a huge cyclone. She wants to go back to Kansas, to the place where she came from.

Can it be related to us? Surely. We all have a goal, a point of destination which we want to reach. So, our journey begins.

On her way, Dorothy met new friends - the brainless Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion. They travelled together in search for fulfillment of their hearts' desires.

When it comes to us, we need to realize that we don't travel alone. We receive help and support from others - and we ourselves give help and support to those around us.

Of course, there were many challenges which Dorothy and her friends faced before they saw the Mighty Oz. They had do develop and use their skills in order to go through all these trials. Those challenges weren't accidental they were a necessary part of their journey. There were no shortcuts on the Yellow Brick Road.

In such a way, our challenges are not accidental. They were attracted to us in response for our desire to become mature. There is only possible way to learn math by solving problems. There in only possible way to lean how to live by dealing with issues presented by life. This learning process doesn't have to be painful. Once we understand how laws of life work, and consistently apply them, our sufferings are gone.