A View From the Bridge

From Aphrodite In Jeans: Adventure Tales About Men, Midlife, and Motherhood by Katherine Shirek Doughtie (Nolan).

This summer I stood on a small bridge overlooking a stream in Vermont. and I had an interesting thought: If I were a leaf floating on that stream, what I'd be most aware of, in fear of, and consumed by would be the rocks. 

The rocks would always be in my way, forcing me to go one way or the other, making me crazy to avoid them, but they would appear in front of me again and again. If I were a leaf, my life would be all about the rocks.

When viewed from above, however, the thing that's most interesting about the stream is its direction and flow. It's obvious from the bridge that the rocks have nothing to do with anything. They add beauty. They add texture. but the do nothing to impede the leaf's journey. That leaf is traveling downstream, whether it wants to or not.

The obstacles simply do not matter. Even the destination does not matter. The movement, the flow, the act of navigating the waters - that's what it's all about.

Asking yourself - without fear or ambition - if a direction is a path with heart tells you if you're poised on the edge of the river bank. The call to adventure is the invitation to jump into the river and find out what's going to happen next.

Blessings,
Roger