Mountain Roads . . .Life Roads

There are many roads to choose from in life.  Some are rather easy roads to travel.  Some seem very, very difficult.  Which of these roads, the difficult or the easy, bring us the most happiness, the most pain, the most growth?  And how do we know how to choose which road is the right one for us at any given moment in our life?

As I was traveling the Cascade Loop (in the state of Washington) a few years ago, I realized some interesting things about roads, both the actual concrete types of road (highways on the maps), and the other kind of road (the type of road we travel to find our inner self, our spiritual self, our REAL self, if you will).

On that day, driving through the Cascades, I was immersed in the beautiful scenery.  Then I realized I was missing as much as I was seeing. Traveling west along Highway 2 the views were magnificent, but I was always trying to turn around to see what was behind me.  As I glanced in my rearview mirror I kept seeing different views of the mountains.  For as I passed a mountain top and enjoyed its splendor, I realized that to see it from the other direction held another whole image for me.  The view from the other direction offered me another, a different perspective.

Maybe some of the roads we travel in our quest for inner growth are like my mountain road.  Maybe looking down the road of life from any one place offers a different view of ourselves than looking at our life from another place along that same road.  And possibly it would be helpful to see our lives from a different direction, from the reverse direction along that road.  Maybe this is why we are sometimes asked to re-travel some of life’s roads, to go over and over what seems like the same old part of our lives that we thought we had resolved.  Maybe we need to see our life not only going forward but also see it coming back the other way.  Maybe doing this can offer us something we will need in our pursuit of self-growth.  Sometimes we ask others in our lives to give us perspective on our lives from their view point; this can be a good thing.  However, it may be equally important for us to be able to see things from our own point of view, but with a different twist.  We may need to see an event in our lives not only going forward, but going backward over it, seeing it as we look back over that particular life road.

I always have some anger at myself when I seem to be sliding backwards instead of moving forward.  Just when I think I have conquered a growth step, I find myself at a dead end, and I am forced to retrace my steps, covering the same road going the other way.  Is that bad?  I always thought so, until now.  Maybe some roads need to be traveled twice, sometimes three times or even more, to learn that particular lesson a little better, or to understand ourselves from a different angle.  This might also allow us to enjoy what we missed along the way the first time.  Often times we can be so caught up in reaching our goal that we forget to enjoy the beautiful scenery along the way in our journey. 

We probably will travel some of life’s roads more than once, some maybe many times.  The trip going offers us one view of ourselves, the trip returning may offer us even a better view.  Let’s just enjoy the experiences and the view along our Life Roads.

Change, Grow, Evolve

©bcreed