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LightHearted Musings - A Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins with a Single Step
Posted by Dr. Molly Roberts on November 23rd, 2008
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
–Lao-tzu
They say that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. And my, what journeys we have all been on, haven’t we? When I think of the accumulated first and subsequent steps I have taken to get to this particular spot in my life, I think of story after story. It feels like it’s been such a long journey and yet those first steps also feel like they happened just yesterday.
We all have periods that are turning points, when circumstances cry for a rest stop on your journey of life. Times when all of your hormones, your biochemistry and your life circumstances are conspiring, forcing you to stop and take stock of all the various aspects of your life. The children (if there are any) are either grown up and out of the house or close to it. Your significant other (if there is one) is making life changes of his or her own. Your financial situation has taken a turn either for the better or for the worse. Your body is changing almost as much as it did in adolescence, and it may be showing its first signs of wear and tear. Your priorities are changing as work either holds more or less significance for you than it did in the past.
The questions that start coming up are the basic ones. What works at this point? What doesn’t? What occupies your time? Are your career, your home, your health and your relationships what you wanted them to be at this point in your life? Do you want to continue on this path or is there another direction that calls to you? Is the road ahead appearing to be rocky or paved in gold? What gifts, experience and wisdom do you bring with you from your previous steps and missteps? What is it that you want deep in your soul? If what you want is not what you’ve got, then what should you do?
What beautiful, honorable and sacred questions these are and what incredibly difficult ones at the same time. There is no magical book to answer these for you. There is no expert “out there” who can comment more convincingly than you about what is “in here.” The work, the introspection and the answers need to come from within, one step at a time.
This is your time to explore these questions and find your own answers. You are not broken and so nobody is going to try to fix you, but we will all be here to support you on your chosen path. We will listen to the stories of your journey and provide a safe and supportive atmosphere for you to explore yourself in mind, body, emotions and spirit. We will talk about the changes your body and your emotions are going through and help you to navigate the many options for optimal health and well-being.
We will encourage you take the time to play and laugh as all good journeys should. We will hold each others’ tears as well, because at least for the moment, we’re all on this path together. Father Thomas Keating once said, “If one completes the journey to one’s own heart, one will find oneself in the heart of everyone else.” Let us all link arms to take that collective next step on the path toward our most cherished vision for ourselves. You can do this - after all, it’s just one step at a time!
Dr. Molly
Again you have given me a perfect quote for my Monday yoga class. I am always encouraging students to make the journey into and out of an asana as important and as considered as the asana itself. That single step will take the procrastinators onto their mats from the floor and allow them to slowly develop their own journey into a personal yoga practice.
Comment by Cordelia Rose — November 24, 2008 @ 10:40 am