Each of us has a path. A way of living our life practically in this world that allows our bodies/hearts/minds to harmonize with our soul. We dub it ‘authenticity’ and some people seek it forever as if it’s somewhere ‘out there’ and needs to be found. But like Dorothy in the Wizard of OZ, the yellow brick road starts right next to our own feet. It starts from within us and winds outward into the world.
Each of us travel this path differently, start from different starting points, equipped adequately or not, and walk it to our own rhythm. Working with clients I meet those who have walked the path a bit and are now emerging into a new part where the path becomes much more public and they aren’t quite sure where it is taking them. I meet others who know where it is taking them in general but want to know more about the particulars and to check in that they are actually on the path and not wandering away from it into unnecessary side roads. (Not that any are unworthy of the journey, but when you want to get from here to there without sightseeing, taking mountain paths may not be your best option). Then there are those who haven’t started yet, but want to. And this can be so very emotional and amazing.
The first step onto the path I think of as “healer heal thyself”. Because if you’re going to go on a journey you need to be minimally physically fit in order to survive it and you need to have the minimum of equipment to get from A to B. And some people aren’t there when they feel the urge to start heading down the road. So what they find is that the road is impassable and they get confused. It should just lay out in front of them, but it doesn’t. In fact they run into roadblock after roadblock and find that they are moving in circle and not getting anywhere. They ask me what they are doing wrong and I let them know that they aren’t. It’s just that they are trying to get ‘out there’ when the truth is ‘in here.’ Too much past baggage, too much unhealed trauma, too much brain washing from past events, is keeping them from getting on with things. And that’s not a problem, it’s an opportunity. Because in the end, as Dorothy found, the road brings us home again to find that what we were looking for we had all along. We just needed to make the journey in order to see and appreciate it.
So starting where you are, looking within, isn’t a setback, it’s a blessing. Because you get to discover the best thing about this life…you.
