How to forge your new path
Imagine meeting me at a trailhead in the misty, early-morning trees...
You know I’ve been down my own path of healing, self-discovery, creation, and growth before, so you feel a warm glow of confidence in your belly that we’ll be good partners to go on this journey together.
We set off.
Like all unknown paths, there are curves we can’t see around, so each step feels risky.
We bushwack, looking down at our feet to avoid rocks and potholes.
Holding thorny vines away from our faces, we dare to look up and see a mountaintop ahead.
What could we see from there?
What will it take to get up to that ridgeline?
I’ve been down my own unmapped trails before, and so have a map for you, you who are ready to come on your own adventure.
But your map isn’t exactly like mine.
And you’re the only person you know who is daring to take such a journey. (No one in your family has ever embarked on something like this before.)
As you unroll the map I’ve handed you, you expect to see perfectly outlined instructions, coordinates, and exact timelines to get to your destination.
Instead, you see a big, beautiful blank spot, with these words along the top:
You know I’ve been down a similar path of healing, creation, and discovery, and trust that I see you have what you need to continue on yours:
Your strengths, experiences, education, values, physical vitality, self-healing abilities, and your spirit are all in this beautiful, shimmering backpack of tools I hand you.
(of course, you already had them, I just helped you gather them up, make sense of them, pack them up, and own them)
We walk along together, you on your path, while I'm just off to the side.
I send out messages of encouragement and notice possible pitfalls ahead until you begin to see them on your own.
Sometimes you get stuck going in circles, seeing the same damned rock or challenge to be overcome. You can’t seem to make your way off this maddening loop and feel frustrated. Resentful.
You’ve worked so hard, hiked so long, but seem to end up in the same spot again and again.
Let’s pause and take a break:
- Where are you getting stuck?
- What habits of action or thought are you repeating?
- Where do you want to go?
- What new steps can you take to get onto a new path?
At times you forget about your tools, strengths, and supplies, so I remind you to look in your glittering backpack of innate wisdom and abilities that you always carry.
Along with a good flashlight to help spot the way ahead even in darkness, nourishment, and laughter when things get absurd, I can see that you sometimes need to stop and rest when you’ve been pushing forward too hard.
We take a break together and admire the view from the hills and mountains you’ve worked hard to climb.
From up here, you see how far you’ve come, and can see more clearly where you want to go next.
Let’s be on our paths together.
They’re not exactly the same, but they share many commonalities.
- To see the beauty of the world, and the beauty in ourselves.
- To have adventures in life, while staying safe.
- To feel connected to our loved ones, while honoring our uniqueness.
- To love ourselves fully and deeply, while still desiring to become more.
- To fully step into our strengths, abilities, and unapologetically own our brilliance.
If you weren’t afraid of walking a new path, with its inevitable obstacles and dead ends, which vista would you really love to see before you end this journey?
Let's make a plan to get you there:
