|
Today's
Meditation:
It's easy to get caught up in seeing just the road on
our journeys through life. We can look at our lives
as one long road from birth to death, and unfortunately,
that's how many people live it-- as a long, straight road
that gets from here to there in the most direct way
possible, without much room for exploration or
deviation. We get caught up in getting to the next
point-- finishing the degree, getting the new job, having
the kid, waiting for the kid to finish high school-- that
we forget to stop, look around, and see all that's around
us at any given point along the road.
The truth is that there's a lot around us all the time
that's just begging to be explored, that's just waiting to
offer itself to us for our pleasure and enjoyment.
Beautiful scenery, fun events, interesting highlights,
scary adventures, new things to see and learn and feel and
explore. That's what the width of life is-- the side
roads that help us to define ourselves as something more
than just another set of feet on the road most traveled.
We are creating the lives now that we'll look back on when
we reach the end of our lives. The decisions that we
make today will contribute to our overall experience here
on this planet, and when we reach the end of life, the
reasons for those decisions won't be nearly as important
as what we decided. Did we decide to play things
safe and not take any risks, not visit any places that
aren't on the straight and narrow? Or did we decide
to live the width of our lives, too, even if others warn
us that it may not be such a great idea?
I have a hunch that when I reach the end of my life, I'm
going to look back on the chances that I've taken as the
highlights of my life-- that I'll see that living the width
will have provided me with the kinds of memories that will
allow me to smile in satisfaction rather than sigh in
regret.
|
