Years ago as a college student, I took a comparative religion course. It was my first exposure to the world’s great religions. At a party I attended during that time, I asked an ex-priest, “If you believe God is within you, where do you turn when you get in trouble?” He said, “You pull yourself up by your own bootstraps.” Thus began my path of ever-expanding self-sufficiency.
It takes courage to stand alone
Not everyone is meant to be an adventurer. But those that do yearn for the freedom of new experiences, transient relationships and constant self-discovery. There is a bit of adventurer in each of us, but in some, it is a driving force. If you are called to go adventuring, you are going to find yourself alone on your journey. You may find someone to walk part of the way with you, but the more untraveled the path you take, the fewer people you will find going in the same direction.
Are you content or do you need to burst free?
The road can be hard for a restless spirit. Many years ago as a young mother in the mid-west, I read Marilyn Ferguson’s “The Aquarian Conspiracy, Personal and Social Transformation in the1980’s” and my life changed. I pulled out my heavily underlined 35-year-old copy that continues to travel with me to look up this quote:
“Our past is not our potential. In any hour, with all the stubborn teachers and healers of history who called us to our best selves, we can liberate the future. One by one we can re-choose to awaken. To leave the prison of our conditioning, to love, to turn homeward. To conspire with and for each other.
Awakening brings its own assignments, unique to each of us, chosen by each of us. Whatever you may think about yourself and however long you may have thought it, you are not just you. You are a seed, a silent promise.”
Are you content where you are, or are you burning to fulfill your silent promise?
If you are called – go
In my 40’s I left the mid-west and went to New York. I thought I went to do theater but it turned out I went for a deep and extensive holistic training: all the est seminars, Trager Practitioner, Certified Bach Flower Counselor, and Reiki Master Teacher. I worked with AIDS patients at the beginning of the AIDS outbreak. I studied yoga and T’ai Chi. I worked in theater. New York City is a center for adventurous people. I had experiences I would never have had if I had stayed in the mid-west.
After 14 years, I moved to Santa Rosa, California. I thought that was to be with family but it wasn’t. It was to find my spiritual home. I became a practitioner in the Center for Spiritual Living. California is full of spiritually inquisitive people. I went exploring. You may think you know why you are being called to a particular environment, but it’s probably for a reason that is unknown to you until you discover it.
Go where you need to go. Discover what you need to know.
Follow your uniqueness
My most recent road less taken happened when I finally realized that not only do I not fit into the senior community where I live, but I don’t want to. I still have a lot of living and giving to do. I went online to find like-minded people. To gather them together I founded the Deeper Song Community. I don’t know where this path will lead but I am deeply nourished by the people who are walking it with me.
The road you need to travel is one that allows you to be your outstandingly unique self. It allows you to push your own boundaries, interact with fellow adventurers, and fulfill your own promise.
Look at your yearning
What have you dreamed about doing that you have yet to try? Where do you need to go to experience it? What do you need to release, who do you need to leave behind in order to fulfill that need for freedom – freedom to explore, freedom to become who you are meant to be.
Now that you know the freedom you seek, what are you going to do about it?
To Sing a Deeper Song consider:
Do You Need to Be Transplanted?
We Must Know When To Go It Alone.
The Simplicity of Starting Over
What is Your Personal Promise?
