It's The Journey!!

“Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it.”~~Greg Anderson

I ran across this quote the other day and it sort of haunts me. Most of my life has been spent trying to see the finish line and while I was looking up the road toward that line life was going on all around me. Life that I was barely noticing.

Sure I had rest stops along the way. Marriage, my children, work but something has always pushed me back on that road and pointed me toward a point so far distant that I had not the slightest chance of seeing it let alone comprehending where I was headed.

Lately I have had reason to pause along that road and take stock of what was happening around me. Over the past ten years I have left so many things on the side of that road. I have been trying to figure out how some of it happened and why I left things sitting by the side of my endless highway.

There is no clear explanation as to why I have done anything. It confuses me so I can imagine how fellow travelers, I have met along the way, would be totally confused.

But there are things that I have figured out over the past three weeks of my journey.

First, you can not go back and retrieve what you left sitting there. It seems that the vehicle that is carrying us on these Life Journeys have no reverse. I think it has six forward gears and I have been traveling in the top gear at the fastest speed. I am surprised that I have seen anything but a blur out the window.

Second, if I did not slow down I was going to burn out way to quickly. I have a lot left to do and need time to get it done. My traveling through life at the speed of light will only end my journey before I have a chance to see out those windows.

Third, there is so much to see. I have slowed down to a crawl. My window glass is clearing up nicely and I am seeing things out there that I have never seen before. I am even seeing some things in a different and much more favorable light. Over the past three weeks I have seen things that have made me sad, some that have given me a smile and one in particular that has given me new life.

Fourth, and I knew this already; never forget what you left along the road and always remember the good times that road has provided you. But most importantly; never forget the pain, yours and theirs, because if you are foolish enough to forget the Pain Found On Your Life Journey you will find that pain waiting for you at some sharp curve and if it comes back it will have a vengeance you may not survive.

I have no idea what my destination is at this point and frankly I do not care at all about the finish line. I am in low gear doing 5 miles an hour and taking in all the sites.

“The relationships we have with the world are largely determined by the relationships we have with ourselves”~~Greg Anderson

I have hated myself for a very long time. Years not weeks!! But now, at this mile marker in my Life Journey, I am starting to see the person I always believed was looking back at me in the mirror each morning.

That other guy?

I have left him beside the highway and I am never going back for him. If you happen to see him there hitchhiking; please drive by so he has no chance of catching up.

Randy

PS....It is quite easy to be philosophical when looking at your life in the rear view mirror. The key is to be optimistic about that life while looking out the windshield.