Pathwalking 41
How many paths can you find to walk for your life?
Pathwalking, as mentioned previously, should not be a one-time action. Pathwalking is a lifestyle choice. The completion of one path should lead to the choice of the next path. And then the next. And then the next.
One notion of Pathwalking is to reach a goal. There is a tangible something we seek along this path. But once we have made that achievement, once we have found that something, what do we do from there? As a Pathwalker, the answer is simple – choose the next path.
Simple answer, certainly. Not necessarily a simple choice.
Before us in this life are, frankly, infinite paths. Add to that no one path is entirely singular. Along the way there will be other opportunities, other things to learn that may not even have been the intent of the chosen path. As such, there are many many more paths available to choose from.
Why is this so complex? How can having so many choices be more worthwhile? Because I believe that life is not supposed to be easy.
I don’t mean its supposed to be a difficult struggle. What I do mean is that life is supposed to be about growing, learning, changing. Challenging ourselves to grow, learn and change with it.
These things are inevitable. We all grow. We all learn. We all change. Some of these things we can have direct influence over. If we so choose. That is what Pathwalking is all about.
An easy life is the life that you let live YOU. Easy is when you only take what you are given, accept limitations, make few choices, let others dictate your paths. To be fair, in the due course of pretty much ANY person’s life, these things are unavoidable.
We have parents. We have teachers. We have bosses. In some circumstances you have to go with what you are given. However, what you take away from these experiences is key. Do you learn from them, learn what you do and do not like about them, and make your own choices as you can?
Paths chosen can be inconstant. There is always more than one path. No matter the destination, more than one way can be taken to get there. And as I’ve previously explored here, often what we encounter as we take the path could be more profound and more important to us then the intended goal.
“When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us.” – Alexander Graham Bell said this. And this is something that is profound with regards to Pathwalking.
We’ve finished the path we have chosen. We’ve celebrated, reflected, expressed gratitude and rested. But we still find ourselves looking back at that path, and all the work we did while upon it. The door is closed. But there is not simply another open to pathwalkers – there are infinite doors to choose from.
So many metaphors to express the same thing. Paths, doors, windows…whatever. The point is that these all represent the ability to make choices, to live in a manner we wish to live, to explore all the amazing, incredible things this life has to offer.
I am passionate about my life. I am constantly learning new things, exploring new ideas. I write new stories, research information, learn new ideas. I see a path before me, and I am working every day to walk it. I feel more in control, and more content with the course I am currently on than I have been in a long while. My choices. My growth. My constant education.
The important thing about this is that it is MY life. Only I can live it as I see most fit. No one else can do that. I choose to walk my own path, chart my own course, pass through my own doors – and so forth. The choices are not few and far between. The only limitations are those I impose on this.
How many paths can you find? The answer is only limited by your own beliefs, your own faith, your own imagination. My answer is not the same as yours, just as much as my path is dissimilar. But if we are the ones choosing our own paths, and controlling our own destinies, I believe we will live the most satisfying and, dare I say, happy lives.
What other paths will you choose when the current one is complete?
This is the forty-first entry in my series. These weekly posts are specifically about walking along the path of life, and my desire to make a difference in this world along the way. Thank you for joining me.
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