Mon 3 May 2010
Last night, Paul did some really good work and spent his evening writing out who he wants to be and what he wants to do. After he was done with his first draft, he read me an inspiring list of his dreams and desires. I was lifted up and inspired. But I could tell he wasn’t feeling the same. I asked him how it made him feel. He shared, with a heavy heart, he wasn’t sure what the bridge was from here to there. He didn’t know if he knew how to or could actually get there.
I totally get that. I relate to it in the marrow of my bones. As I was talking to him though, I felt that it was me being talked to. I hope it helped him a bit, because it REALLY helped me.
Here’s roughly what I heard in what I said:
Read through that description again of the life you want to live. Think about what it will feel like to be living that life. Imagine it. Not just for a minute, but really spend some time to be with it.
What does it feel like? How does it make you feel? How does it taste?
Embrace it, hold those sensations. Become familiar with the feeling and sensations you’d experience if you were living the life of your passions and dreams. Get so thoroughly acquainted with them that you would recognize them anywhere.
Now comes the bridge building part. For us, bridge building isn’t as stationary as it is when you literally construct a bridge from one side of a ravine to another. It’s a journey, where things are always changing, always evolving, and always moving. Our bridge building is happening on a spiritual, non-linear plane. Our spiritual and life landscape won’t have a set beginning ravine on one side and a set ravine on the other. At least, it won’t if we are seeking and following a path of spiritual and personal experiences and growth.
There is no real or certain way to have blueprints that you can unroll, look at, verify your materials and measurements, and then roll and tuck into your pocket for safekeeping. You won’t know exactly what you are going to have built once you are done. Not exactly.
But remember when we were talking about getting familiar with what it would feel like to be living the life we want to create and know for ourselves? Remember those sensations that we got intimately familiar with? That taste? That’s the closest thing to a blueprint we are going to have. We are on a spiritual and life path. With the declaration of our dreams and desires… with our intentions, we have put out a breadcrumb trail for ourselves. True, there will be breadcrumbs everywhere, in every direction. People have spread them all around, so thick that we can’t even see that there is a path at all. So how do we know where our path is? Where do we go? What crumbs lead to where we have set out to go?
Breathe. A deep breath. Get grounded and remember the taste of your intentions for your life. Remember the tang or the sweetness… the mildness or the rich buttery flavor… whatever your dreams and desires taste like… remember that. And then, observe first breadcrumb you find on the path ahead of you. You may look at some and instantly know - my breadcrumbs have a flaky light brown crust - not hard and dark. And you can readily dismiss it. Next crumb, it might take as little as a sniff for you to know FOR SURE… this isn’t how mine smelled. And you turn to the next. This one looks right, smells a little more familiar, but now, you have to take a taste. You might have a slew of crumbs that look right and smell right — and you might have to compare. None of them may be spot on - and if not, pick the one that is the closest. Then you proceed to the next crumbs placed before you, and then again. Follow those sensations that you memorized… the taste, smell and feel you recognize instantly as your path.
Sounds a little daunting in terms of getting that bridge built and getting from here to there, doesn’t it? But that’s only as you first start out. The breadcrumbs will thin. The paths will become more obvious. It will happen - as long as you set out. If you sit down for a time, it will take longer. That’s not always a bad thing. Sometimes we need rest. For others, there is a sense of urgency and they’ve strapped on their traveling packs and are setting out to find out. Some it will take what may be or seem like lifetimes to follow their breadcrumbs, and for others, it may take only what appears to be a day. It’s all good. It’s your journey. Seriously, it’s all good.


























