May We Meander on Our Path to the Truth Within
Writing is an adventure. You think you know where you’re going, but as you write, you discover new views, new ideas, and all of a sudden, you realize the map is useless. You meander around in the darkness, trying to find a path back to where you wanted to go. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes, you find a path to somewhere you never expected.
Expectation Vs. Reality
I’ve been writing the Month of Mays for a few years now, so I thought I knew what to expect. I thought I had prepared myself better than any other year. I prepared several posts in advance and wrote a bunch more in a notebook, ready to be typed up. Whenever an idea popped up into my head, I also made quick notes on my phone. I thought I had plenty of ideas to fill up the whole month.
But alas, I’m meandering, several days behind my planned route. It’s not that those preparations were for noting, but as I write more, events happen that give me a different perspective. Then, I end up delving deeper than I expected to. I found that I needed to cut half of the stuff that I wrote already because they are obsolete from my new perspective. It’s been a constant conversation with the unknown.
The Path of a Lost Adventurer
The thing is, that’s OK by me. If it was few years ago, I would have pressured myself into writing 31 perfect posts with an image to go with each. I’m very proud of what I did then, and that was the right thing for me in that moment. I had so much I needed to express, and I had no other place to express it. Well, I just don’t have the same deep urge to be seen and heard now. I’m not interested in changing someone else by pointing out their problems. I just want to leave a trail marker if and when someone needs it. As an explorer, I want to make a map of how I navigated through my own life. But I don’t expect you to follow every path that I took. I want each of us to explore our lives in our own way. I just want to be the right person that shows up at the right time.
I’m not stupid. I know most of my posts don’t get read. I know that what I write is not something that’s easy to digest for the general audience. Not everyone wants to know that there’s a whole another invisible world out there that is far richer than what we see with our eyes. Also, some of what I write would be cruel to say to those who are in the middle of a traumatic experience. For example, I know that I cannot ask the Palestinians to feel any compassion for the Israelis when they have had everything they’ve treasured taken away. Sometimes, those insecurities and worries lead me astray, and I feel completely lost.
The Destination
But when I step back from the immediate day to day news and seek a path to true, lasting peace, then it’s clear to me that compassion IS what’s needed. We need both the Palestinians’ and the Israeli’s willingness to respect each other’s beating hearts. Otherwise, the truces are just that, truces. They will be broken time and time again, just as they have been for generations after generations. We need someone who can imagine a different future. How could we ever get to world peace without our willingness to imagine it?
I know this is the truth within my heart. I see the world from a slightly more expansive view than most, and I wish to share it with those with an open mind. So, I write. Because even if its’ not common knowledge yet, I know that thoughts are energy. A belief is a source of power. In the realm of the invisible, my thoughts count. My hope counts. My trust that we, as human beings, are capable of actually achieving lasting peace – it counts. Sending love and prayers counts. Trusting the kindness of others counts. Trusting yourself counts. And I know that it’s not just mine. Yours count too.
Aha! So, that’s my destination: I write because I want to be the pebble creating the ripples in the energy field. But if I just wrote that, you would have no idea what I was talking about. You see? Meandering matters. So let us meander, all of us, and savor each step that we take.