Recently, I watched a lecture given by Matt Harding - the “Where the hell is Matt?” guy who does a silly dance in dozens of countries - and he spoke about expanding your bubble by traveling internationally. I love the idea of traveling the globe, expanding your bubble, having epiphanies about the brotherhood of mankind and the simple life. However, many of us have kids, jobs, debt, gardens and lives we cannot easily “escape” from to go globe-trotting. I feel there is over-emphasis of the vagabonding, 4-hour work week, tropical adventure lifestyle’s importance. But how do we break our bubble without leaving home?

There are three things I think will help you expand your mind, all available from your current circumstances.

Disrupt the status quo by setting and achieving goals

Set and achieve them goals; and start anew building upon them. It doesn’t matter where you start - pick anything you have wanted to do and break it up into manageable goals and begin to tackle them. Don’t run on the hamster wheel of mere “survival”. Just getting by is a recipe for repeating the, “Go to work, come home, eat dinner, relax - on the weekends go shopping and do yard work” cycle.

Take time to develop your spirituality

Let yourself get an attitude adjustment by pondering spiritual matters like what your purpose in life is or your readiness to die. Go to church, meditate, give to charity, spend time in nature, pray, do community service, philosophize. Get to the spirit of the matter by going deeper than the everyday tasks needed to make ends meet. If you want to break out of your bubble, you don’t have to travel outside it - a fresh perspective will reveal a whole new world.

Allow yourself to be more social

Many of our new experiences come through other people. Whether we get invited to go to restaurant we’ve never heard of or a friend tells us of some intriguing book - other people will bring so much more into your life if you just let them connect to you, which means making efforts to socialize. One rule of thumb I try to honor is to never turn down a first invitation. If you meet some one and they say, “Hey you should come hiking with us next week…” - do your best to commit and make it happen. It may not be your favorite thing or maybe you’ve got other things on the agenda, but if the invitation is sincere, take them up on it. Causal acquaintances can easily take you out of your bubble if you keep your ears open and respect their offers.