Monday, August 8, 2011

Too much chasing...

The other day I was in the garden and I saw a very cute little toad.  You know the kind that shows up in front of you when you are about to take a step, and stares at you.  Well, I thought it would be fun to pick up the toad and stare back at him a bit.  After much chasing and direction changing, I finally caught him.  I scooped him up gently in my hands and stared at him.  His response to that was to promptly pee all over my hand! Obviously not what I had hoped would happen once I had achieved my goal of catching him. (Having done this many times in the past as a child, I should have remembered that this would be the eventual outcome.)

This caused me to think about how often in life we chase things.  Dreams of careers, relationships, and other things that we think are going to make us happy, or turn out a certain way.  It is the "if only" syndrome.  If only I could meet that guy, life will be better.  If only I could get a promotion, life will be better.  This "if only" game goes on for quite some time, until we realize that the end result is not always as we had envisioned it.  The promotion comes with more work and time away from the family.  The great guy might come with huge emotional baggage.

The other issue with all this chasing of  "if only" dreams, is that while we are so busy chasing, we look past the blessings that are right here in our lives; those that are already present for us.  When we slow down and stop chasing for a while, we are able to see more clearly the path that we are already on.  We are more able to accept the facts of our lives at this very moment, knowing that they will change as things move along. They are going to do that on their own and we do not have to chase them in order to accomplish movement.

Not all chasing results in negative consequences, but by chasing, we miss the benefits of truly experiencing the journey along the way.  Keeping your eye on the prize is okay, but we need to not have tunnel vision in order to truly appreciate the value of the end goal once reached.  So instead of chasing a dream, take a journey to it and recognize each step of the way as the blessing that it is. Happy travelling.

Namaste',

Michelle H.

2 comments:

  1. Michelle you are wise beyond your years. I love your writing and only wish I had the ability to realize what you say before you write it. Love you!!
    J

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you so much for the kind words. Sorry it takes me so long to respond sometimes. Just too busy living and enjoying the moments. Thanks for reading and posting. Hope to see more of you on the site.

    Namaste',

    Michelle H.

    ReplyDelete

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