An Adventurer Captivates Us on the Big Screen

In the film, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones—an adventurer played by Harrison Ford—is no ordinary archeologist. When we first meet this adventurer in 1936, he’s deep in the Peruvian jungle, running a booby-trapped gauntlet to capture a solid-gold idol. Indy ends up losing this artifact to his rival—French archeologist, Belloq—who then prepares to kill our adventurer.

In the first of many serial-like escapes, he eludes Belloq by hopping onto a plane. We soon learn that Indiana Jones isn’t afraid of much, except snakes.

The next time we see Indy, he’s a soft-spoken, bespectacled professor. He’s then summoned to find the long-lost Ark of the Covenant. To find the Ark, Indy must first secure a medallion kept under the protection of his old friend, Abner Ravenwood, whose daughter, Marion, evidently has a history with Jones.

Whatever their personal differences, Indy and Marion become partners in one action-packed adventure after another, ranging from wandering the snake pits of the Well of Souls to surviving the pyrotechnic unearthing of the sacred Ark.

An Adventurer Sees No Constraints

Adventure and experimentation, perhaps not as ardent as what Indiana Jones went through, can be your guideposts, and you would do well to push yourself out of your comfort zones and welcome new adventures. As an adventurer, you can venture somewhere new or simply not limit yourself. This is the time to know when to say yes to life and all it offers you—which isn’t always easy—and when to choose to say no by trusting yourself.

The first step is to question everything when you realize no one has your answers. Where might you be overly sensitive, or reacting to old patterns and programming? When you can break that story and stop reacting to unhealthy programming in the same way, you could potentially experience breakthroughs as you burst through an old paradigm into a healthier, more expansive one.

Perhaps now is the time to think about what you can do rather than what you can’t, and get your ideas out into your world. Not much will happen until you take the first step—and only you can imagine and explore what it looks like.

Whatever your situation, can you consider throwing back the curtains of life and greeting the day with renewed awe and wonder? Can you tap into your own vast imagination and enter an Indiana Jones vortex where anything goes, and the unknown is a thrilling and scary jaunt?

Can you observe and heal any irrational fears and limiting beliefs—such as not feeling good enough—and if so, is it possible to consider the bridges necessary to take you into a healthier existence? How many times have you given up on a dream, an idea, an invention, a new home, a new friend, a new adventure, or a new profession because you blocked it before it could even be birthed?

 An Understanding of the Beauty of Life

The only thing we know for sure is that one day we will die. Some, like my father, will die too young, and others will live until past one hundred years of age, never having really lived at all. Surviving from one moment to the next is the current status quo. None of us truly know for certain whether there is a heaven or a hell in the cosmos, but we do know that we can create heaven or hell throughout our lifetime—and some of us have been born into hellish situations and environments from day one.

Many of us have cried, screamed, judged, blamed, and pointed fingers of shame. But once we take back our power through pursuing inner work, we can no longer remain victims. We can no longer afford to hide. The only path we can take is forward, accepting that we have the power to guide ourselves by following our hearts, which beat in harmony with the universe.

We can choose not to allow those with too much wind to blow down our dreams with their negativity or fear. We can hold on through our choices of who and what we consume and stay balanced in what we know to be our divine truth.

One way to transform is to start building connections, tunnels, and bridges that make the old ones obsolete. Is there a mysterious and exciting source of inspiration that sparks your sense of wonder and helps you imagine your next adventure?

Excerpted from Expedition 10: Taking the First Steps, F*ck the Bucket List for the Adventurer: Trekking into the Unknown. Recognized with three awards in 2021, including Visionary Non-Fiction.