Live Life as a Pilgrimage

There is an opportunity in every moment of every day to be the person you want to be, and I'm pretty sure we miss more than half of those moments.  We miss them because we're looking ahead into the future, or upset that we're late, or worried about what someone else thinks of us, or just going through the motions of the day because "it's what I've always done".  And so, the person we want to be gets left further and further behind in the flotsam and jetsam of our lives.  And eventually, it gets so buried that some of us even forget to stop trying to be that better person we want to be, because really--what's the point?

But there is a point.  We wouldn't want to be that better person if we didn't have dreams and aspirations about what life would be like as that better person.  Maybe you just want to be skinnier, or prettier, or smarter, or working a better job, or enjoying life more.  But whatever that better person is, it isn't just going to happen.  You have to work at it.  You have to set aside time to focus on it.  You need to strengthen yourself against all those little things that wear you down and stop you from becoming.

But most of all, you need to not be afraid to make mistakes.  Or better yet, ...be afraid, and make them anyway.  How can you learn anything if you're never willing to explore the possibilities?

I've been reading some thoughts from a man in India.  I found him because I was searching for thoughts on yoga and meditation.  And as I watched and listened to the videos that this man had created, it made me ...happy.  Not because he had all the answers (though he has some rather surprising ones), but because he had this ...spirituality that made him seem both enlightened and down to earth.  And it was compelling--compelling enough that I now take time out of my day to read his daily e-mail messages and on occasion read some of the messages he's written on the webpage his organization uses to inform its followers of goings-on.

His writings today were about pilgrimages and why people go on them.  And I want to share a quote from that with all of you today:

"If this life is not constantly longing for something higher than what it is, that is not much of a life. If you are aspiring and working towards something higher, then your life is a pilgrimage."  -- Sadhguru

Now, while I may not agree with his spiritual beliefs, and I may not find everything he has to say true, the things that he does say make me think.  They force me to confront who I am and what I believe, and I think that makes me a better person.  And it is one of the reasons that I continue to be open to others' thoughts, opinions, and ideas.  I do this because I don't know what the right thing always is.  I don't know whose opinion is more valid, and whose facts are the most factual, but if it's important to me, I strive to find a truth and an understanding that I believe in with the understanding that I may learn something new from someone else that may change those beliefs and understandings that I hold right now.  But that, for me, is one of the ways that I become a better person.

Still, I think a pilgrimage is a greater growth toward humility--a journey that allows us to break down the comfort zones we've built for ourselves in the pursuit of something that we believe is important.

And I hope that in this new year, you can find that something important and journey toward it.  I hope that you will live your life as a pilgrimage.  And I hope that in becoming, you find joy and happiness in your endeavors.