I Will Not Follow-Daily Meditation-September 19, 2022
Today’s quotation:
I will not follow where the path may lead, but I will go where there is no path, and I will leave a trail. -Muriel Strade
Today’s Meditation:
It can be terrifying to leave the well-worn path. It can fill us with fear of the unknown and worry for the future. After all, the path may look attractive right now, but how does it look up around the next bend? Maybe there it runs through a swamp full of dangerous snakes and biting insects, or runs along the edge of a 1000-foot precipice. And if it does that, it won’t be such a nice road, will it?
But fear of what may happen in the future is no reason to avoid blazing our own paths in life, especially when we keep in mind that we create our own paths in life. We don’t just blaze trails–we actually create our own futures by our actions and thoughts of today. If we create a positive, loving reality today, then guess what the path we’re blazing will look like as we continue down it?
The paths that are already created may be worn smooth and comfortable, not causing us undue stress or strain, but they are also much less rewarding than those we blaze on our own (and isn’t “blaze” a great word for creating a path? It brings to mind the flames of passion as we blaze our trail!). Should we continue to go only to those places where others have gone before us, or should we try to make more of our lives, exploring regions that will force us to use our resources more creatively and uniquely than we’d be able to do on the worn paths?
If we can do this, we can leave behind us a new path that someone else can take until they, too, are willing and able to step off onto their own path in life.
Questions to consider:
Are you on your own unique path or a well-worn path?
How can we move from a well-worn path to our own unique one?
How do we decide which way to go when no path stretches before us?
For further thought:
Whenever two ways lie before us, one of which is easy and the other hand, one of which requires no exertion while the other calls for resolution and endurance, happy are those who choose the mountain path and scorn the thought of resting in the valley. These are the men and women who are destined in the end to conquer and succeed. -unattributed