Life can feel so uninspiring. Ho hum to get the mail, yawn to do the dishes, bags-under-your-eyes boring to do the laundry. And yikes it happens all over again tomorrow. That’s one way you can live your life.

As the little oval metallic coin sitting in my purse with a quote courtesy of Albert Einstein says, however:

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”

Even life in Hawaii can get boring after awhile. I know you’re rolling your eyes about now. The beaches? The 365 days of sunny summer weather? “Yeah right,” you say.

But I kid not.

Even in paradise, life can feel mind-numbingly boring.

As with anything that feels uncomfortable or challenging, however, there is always another way.

Want to transform your boring, purposeless life into a meaningful one?

Learn to lean into the things that bring you joy and away from the things that suck the life out of you.

This takes rolling up your sleeves courage. It takes realizing that certain friends/family members may not be good for you, no matter how long you know them. And not just realizing it, but making a decision to spend less time with them. It requires a switch in thinking. Instead of believing that you know everything about life, it requires you to see the world as wide-eyed as a little child. Same street, same neighborhood, same beach. Or is it? Was there this flower here yesterday, this stranger, this dog, this cloud traversing the sky?

No day is exactly the same. {Thank God we don’t live in the movie Groundhog’s Day.}

It’s the pessimist that says life will never get better. It’s the cynic that says everything about the world is already discovered. Everything has already been written. Every idea has already been created. Why hope? Why have faith? Why believe?

Stephen Colbert was on Oprah’s Next Chapter recently. His wise words opened my eyes to what cynicism truly is:

 “Cynicism masquerades as wisdom, but it is the farthest thing from it. Because cynics don’t learn anything. Because cynicism is a self-imposed blindness, a rejection of the world because we are afraid it will hurt us or disappoint us. Cynics always say no. But saying “yes” begins things. Saying “yes” is how things grow. Saying “yes” leads to knowledge. “Yes” is for young people. So for as long as you have the strength to, say “yes’.”

If you want to live an inspiring life, you don’t have to do great things. You just have to believe that they exist. And as a forest welcomes a witness to its grandeur, life invites its observers to appreciate the magic with which it always and already exists.