Prompt 14: #Trust 30

Yes, I'm still limping my way towards finishing #Trust30 ... :)

Alternative Paths by Jonathan Fields

When good is near you, when you have life in yourself, it is not by any known or accustomed way; you shall not discern the foot-prints of any other; you shall not see the face of man; you shall not hear any name; the way, the thought, the good, shall be wholly strange and new. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

The world buzzes about goals and visions. Focus. Create a vivid picture of exactly where you want to go. Dream big, then don’t let anything or anyone stop you. The problem, as Daniel Gilbert wrote in Stumbling Upon Happiness, is that we’re horrible at forecasting how we’ll really feel 10 or 20 years from now – once we’ve gotten what we dreamed of. Often, we get there only to say, “That’s not what I thought it would be,” and ask, “What now?” Ambition is good. Blind ambition is not. It blocks out not only distraction, but the many opportunities that might take you off course but that may also lead you in a new direction. Consistent daily action is only a virtue when bundled with a willingness to remain open to the unknown. In this exercise, look at your current quest and ask, “What alternative opportunities, interpretations and paths am I not seeing?” They’re always there, but you’ve got to choose to see them.

(Author: Jonathan Fields)

We seek out the symbols and the metaphors. In high school English class, we dug into the books and the poems, got our hands all messy and dirty and triumphantly pulled them out by the roots for further examination. It seemed so clear to us – what meanings birds and flowers and rainstorms had, how they spelled out doom or triumph for our heroes. And we wished that in real life that the symbols and the metaphors were so obvious and clear to us, that we could find them as easily as we do in stories and poems and epics. That they could be the breadcrumbs, revealing to us which trails to take, which direction we’re supposed to be heading in.

In our real lives, there are symbols, sometimes clear and loud, like a beacon in the fog. Sometimes you wonder if you’re imagining symbols out of nothing, delusional, to try to give your life some bigger meaning. And sometimes the symbols are too obscure or muddy to discern. You know they must be there, somewhere, but you’re groping for them at the bottom of the river while the water rushes over your fingers. That’s where a little faith comes in, faith that they will, in fact, be there, and that you’ll have enough wisdom to recognize them when they show up.

Comments

[Roxanne]

I think that belief that you describe, Noel, is the definition of having faith. I have told you this before and will repeat it now: Your own faith feeds mine. I know that the universe is listening.

[Dragonfly]

Ahhh....I hear the value of letting go. that is when faith will carry you to knowing places.

[Kim]

It is sometimes so hard to see symbols from within. Maybe it's just a built-in human hurdle, that we can interpret them correctly when they appear in a story or someone else's life, but not our own.

That you remember faith, and find it, and let it carry you along, even when meaning is obscured, is a wonder to me, and an encouragement right now. I am so glad I know you.

[Tracy Mangold]

Amen.

[wholly jeanne]

I find, at least lately, that symbols repeat themselves, coming at me from blogs, books, emails, nature, and a host of other (often unexpected) sources. It's as though the Sweet Spirit of Surprises, as I call her, is snapping her fingers saying "You. I'm talking to YOU."

[Noel]

@Roxanne, Thanks! Sometimes the threads I hold onto it with get a little tangled. But I work on it.

@Kim, it hides on me sometimes! But I always manage to find it.

@Tracy, Amen. :)

@Wholly Jeanne, Yes, sometimes they pretty much smack you upside the head! I love that ... the Sweet Spirit of Surprises ...