Daily Mood Quote - June 7, 2011

Daily Mood Quote

Day 34 – June 7, 2011

“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Over the past few weeks, I have found myself thinking about the road not traveled. I have been told by many that it is normal to wonder if your life would have been different “if” you would have changed direction , or “if” you had turned down another road, or just stayed put. Maybe, the better question might be, “Do you have regrets about the direction you have taken or the path you have traveled?” When I decided to leave home, the only decision I made was not to live the same kind of life my mother had. I wanted to be different, smarter, better. I wanted to travel, meet people, see what the world had to offer.

Well, I've done that...however, I did so without a road map. Would I have changed a few things? Well, I think everybody has 20/20 hindsight. The “would of”, “should of” and “could of's” of your life. But, like Tim McGraw sings in Red Rag Top “that'll drive ya out of your mind.”

Many years ago, I had a conversation with my father-in-law about returning to school to get my degree. My father-in-law told a story about a man, who had many opportunities in his life and because of fear, his own and those of his family, he never followed through on any of them. He missed opportunities that would have changed the direction of the family's lives. Now that man sits on a porch swing wondering “What if?” he would have said yes, instead of a lifetime of no's. Then he ask me, “Do you want to be 80 years old sitting on a swing wondering “What if?”

In the movie Mr. Destiny there is a dialogue between Destiny (played by Michael Caine) and Larry Burrows (played by Jim Belushi); it goes like this:

“Larry Burrows: How can my life change so much just because I hit one stinking baseball?

Destiny (Mike): Well, you see Larry, one's destiny is a very complicated thing. Every incident in a person's life affects everything else that follows it. Instead of missing the baseball, however, you hit it. Then you became a hero, married the prom queen, and so on, and so forth, until you find yourself exactly where you are. So you see, hitting that baseball has spun your life off in an entirely new direction.

Larry Burrows: Are you an angel or something?

Destiny (Mike): Not exactly, no.

Larry Burrows: Then what are you?

Destiny (Mike): Have you ever been faced with a decision, and you weren't sure what to do?

Larry Burrows: Yeah, sure, plenty of times.

Destiny (Mike): And then something inside you made you choose one direction over another?

Larry Burrows: Yeah. So?

Destiny (Mike): So that's me. I make the suggestions, and you make the choices. That's how destiny works, Larry - very subtly. Welcome to your new life, Larry. I hope you like it.”

Yep, another baseball reference, but in my defense it is summer. The point is that when we make choices, our paths continually change. Every choice, every day. Sometimes it's the smallest of course adjustments that make the biggest differences in our lives. That's OK, because if we hadn’t made the choices we did, then the things we love and cherish in our lives, might not be in our lives. Along with that is the inevitable cost of passage. There are bumps and scrapes, the mental and ego bruises and the hard-earned lessons. But, these lessons can be passed on, so that our children can chart their course more accurately, with less scrapes and thorns.

I have realized while writing this day's blog, I am exactly where I should be. While there have been mountains to climb and raging streams to forge, my path is the one I'm supposed to be on. And, I won't be 80 years old wondering “What if?” instead, I will have lived, and I will have learned, being exactly where I should be.

How will you chart your "path" today?

Tune in tomorrow to read the daily mood quote

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