Navigating the Right Path

Imagining the flow of life from ‘go’ to ‘woe’ as a path or series of paths is helpful, for this is how it is. Many of these paths finish and discontinue, upon which others open up and start. The good path is to be discerned and great attention is required. Backtracking’s not such a sin as continuing along the wrong path is.

Living life is an often tricky business. Goads and traps there are everywhere, though many are invisible or difficult to see at the best of times. No wonder really that our direction relates to our choices and that the chosen paths dictate where we end up.

A Most Important Life Skill – Discovering and ‘Righting’ the Wrong Path

We will all find ourselves here; off-track and off-bearing, struggling for rhythm and timing in life. Dazed and confused like a punch-drunk boxer our minds are stayed, we pray, in the resilience of a wise hope. A certain calmness is required when things get desperately awry.

Awareness is a key, as always, but awareness can also rock us to the core. It can get scary for a time.

So, with awareness is the fortitude to innovatively collude for action, as our inner resources harmonise and cognitive and emotional unison becomes our way. Steadier we become.

Forgiving Ourselves When We’ve Taken the Wrong Path

We almost cannot get past our own stupidity at times, and if anyone will condemn us more than we’ll condemn ourselves they’re generally out of our sight (though there are occasionally exceptions to this amongst unloving or co-dependent others or those who do love us most appropriately but lose sight for a moment how best to do that).

We all take the wrong path at times. The costs vary.

Self-forgiveness is a great gift; it’s God-given. God’s forgiveness is already a given, yet we’re apt at not believing it by our self-condemnation. Forgiveness is ours at our simple acceptance. A better path is provided.

The truth is we’re destined in our brokenness to wander off on our own way. The key task of life, then, is to detect as early as possible — and earlier and earlier with wisdom — when we’re doing this.

Then we simply get back on track with no recriminations.

© 2011 S. J. Wickham.

Graphic Credit: Tambako the Jaguar.