Today is the first day for the rest of your life and that is what the energy of this year is about. It is about opportunity and potentials and choices and happiness for the taking.
It is the year where you stand at a crossroads ready to take the next step in the adventure called your life. Ready to paint the next picture in the story book of which you are the author.
Right path, wrong path – how do you know which is the one for you?
An expression you hear from time to time is that we travel paths in our life. This seems very obvious and standing still and looking back, you can see the path that you have followed to get you where you are today. On hindsight, at the intersections of your life path, have you chosen the right one for you? If you had the opportunity again, would you choose another direction to follow? Well, if you did, you would not be standing where you are today, would you?
So, has it been so wrong where you have traveled and alternatively, has it been so right where you have traveled? I guess the truth is that at today you are stationary in your journey as you look behind yourself. What about the future? What do you see in front of your journey? Are you at an intersection or is your path quite clear?
If there is one truth that cant be argued, it is best embodied in the words of Henry Ford (of motor vehicle fame). He said:
‘At the end of the day you are only as good as what you do’
No matter where you would like to go and no matter what path you would wish to take, at the end of the day, where you are standing is you. Everything else besides this is mere speculation and fantasy and it’s potential will either be lost or solidified pending where you next step. This is an important point because when you hear expressions like choose this path rather than that one; or expressions like There are three paths you could travel, choose the middle one.; all these expressions are nonsense because where you and you alone step is where your, and yours alone, path is. It seems that we create our path as we walk and that any path ahead of us is an illusion because until we take the step it really has not been created yet.
If you agree with this logic, then the path we have traveled can be nothing else but that path, because we have traveled it ourselves step by step, indeed we have created it. Therefore, to look back and wish you had taken another route is mere folly, because the truth is you did not and ‘at the end of the day we are only as good as what we do’. Perhaps the issue is not about where you have been and where you are going, perhaps the issue is you and how are you feeling today which will influence where next you put your step. This too is important because if you have to make a major choice about your future, if you make this choice with an unclear mind, then your choice will be an unclear choice. But if you make your choice with a clear mind, your choice will be clear. Again, the issue is not what to choose but it is to first get you in a position to choose. In this sense, like it is where you stand that is important, in this sense your number one priority is not where you are going but it is making sure you are prepared for the journey. Do not focus on the path but focus on you and then you will know the path will be reflective of your well-being as you are standing now.
Interesting concept because it says that the past has gone forever and the future is yet to be created. This concept has implications in our healing journey. The true journey as this writer sees it, is not to revisit the past and is not to look into the future but rather, it is to stand still and breath again. Some would argue that to breath again in your place of standing you must visit the past to release the ‘baggage’ that you carry, to make your load lighter for your journey. Because at this moment in time where you stand quietly, the truth is that the past is only a memory and to revisit it will take your focus to it and make that memory reactivate. It will not cure it but it will inflame it. Certainly, if you are standing in your still quiet place at this moment, your focus could be to eradicate the past and to avoid the expectation of the future and just enjoy being the you that is your own true nature in the moment. This is your healing journey. In the moments that are neutral and still, in the moments to remember who you are and to breath with no regrets and no expectations for regrets and expectations are only illusions of the mind that will keep you from taking that next step. Even in retracing the past we cannot place our feet in perfect sequence to where we have come from. Just a thought, but at least there is some logic to this conclusion.
Right path or wrong path – how do you know which is the right one for you? – You don’t! You never can because the only path that is right for you is the one you are walking now. To finish quoting one of the great philosophical minds, Descarte: There is neither right nor wrong, but thinking makes it so! Therefore we are always on the right path – the right path for us.
Kevin Reed 2003
