Life is a Winding Path, and what a Gift it is

Rarely is life a simple, direct, one-step route. For many of us, it takes a few times to figure some things out. It’s not so clear, not so direct. It’s a bit more of a winding path. And that’s okay. Rarely is anything so straightforward. That uncertainty, that winding path that we’ve been on and that remains ahead of us, that feels like we’ve gone backwards, sideways, anything but forward, is nothing to fear. It’s nothing to shy away from. In fact, it is a gift. An opportunity to embrace with gratitude, with joy, and excitement. This gift is one of the most amazing learning and growing opportunities. One of self discovery, of healing, of transformation beyond what you could ever imagine. 

It allows you to break free from so many things that have conditioned you in the past. To break free from social norms that perhaps you didn’t realize until now that you don’t agree with, which held you back from living an authentic life. It will help you break free from expectations, or chains to what others might think of you, limiting beliefs about yourself, the world, or others. If we just walked straight with the blinders on and didn’t take any side roads, maybe some of these things would come up. But more often than not we just don’t even notice. But on this winding path that’s the gift: we get to be present, we get to take our time, we get to notice. In the questioning, the wondering, the space for curiosity and humility, we get to experience so much of life, so much about ourselves, the world, and about other people. What’s more beautiful than that? We get to live fully human. We get to question, to wonder, to explore, to imagine. We get to liberate ourselves. 

Now, we are often conditioned from an early age to seek safety, to seek certainty, to look to others for the answers, to look to others for how we should react. Lawrence Yeo speaks to this in his book, The Inner Compass, an accessible and profound piece of work that widens one’s view with gentleness, compassion, and humor. In many ways Yeo reminds us of what we already know, and I couldn’t recommend it more highly. Part of our conditioning is seeking certainty. If we know that others have walked down a path, that it is seemingly safe, and we know what lies ahead and how to get there, more often than not, we might choose that path because we’re conditioned to do so.

Over time, this conditioned path becomes less appealing, because it’s not necessarily in line with our true self, nor is it very realistic to expect every person to follow it. The Self that seeks curiosity, that seeks new experience, that wants to live its fullest potential, that wants to take the winding road, the undefined path. The one that will allow us to explore and to expand. To be wild and to imagine. To dance ecstatically, howl at the moon, commune with nature, and laugh at yourself. That is the path on which I encourage you to take. Walk, run, skip, climb, dance along it with wild abandon and joy.

It’s the path that I avoided too many times in my life. It’s the path that I was afraid of, that led me to choosing safety, perceived stability and financial security. What I thought was the right path to be successful, to impress others and gain their approval, to gain status. It was a path I thought would make me feel worthy and valued. And in the end, it only brought me discontent. It brought me physical pain, mental pain, emotional pain, depression, anxiety, suffering. It doesn’t mean it’s the wrong path. It’s perhaps perfectly the right path for someone else. But it wasn’t for me. 

And Yeo also speaks about how our intuition, our inner voice, our inner wisdom, is something that needs to become refined. And normally age and experience help us do that. But the more we listen to it, the more we practice and the more we follow it, the more refined it becomes. It strengthens itself under stress. It strengthens itself under pressure. Not negative or harmful pressure, but by using it. Like our bodies, we build muscle by lifting. We strengthen our cardiovascular system by running or swimming. We develop a sense of our inner world, control of our breath, and flexibility through yoga. Our body needs to undergo that exercise to strengthen it, just as our inner voice and our intuition does. And we might follow it, and it might lead us to something that we end up realizing maybe wasn’t the right thing for us, or something didn’t pan out the way we thought it might. It doesn’t mean it was wrong. It means that we’re practicing and we’re strengthening. We are listening to it, honoring our inner Self, and respecting it. We’re gaining experience and we’re gaining wisdom.

And that is part of the practice of life and being human. It’s so much more beneficial for us to do that, to learn, to grow, to expand, which helps us live in greater alignment with who we truly are, rather than always looking for answers elsewhere. It’s more valuable than having someone make decisions for us or always following the path that others walked without thinking what might be right for us, without listening to our body and our spirit to choose our own path. 

That path, my friend, most often is not straight, and most often has some boulders, some trees, some downed branches, perhaps even a valley to travel, a river to cross, or a mountain to climb. But that path is a wild, wondrous adventure. And I am here to start navigating it alongside you. I don’t have the answers for you. But I have walked the well-worn path of others and learned it wasn’t right. And in choosing to walk the path of uncertainty, of self discovery, of life, I continuously commit and recommit to that path everyday. Some days it’s terrifying, I feel lost, and alone, but I learn how to regulate my emotions and nervous system, I learn how to embrace the discomfort, and cultivate resilience. And some days it is pure magic, it is pure joy. 

I will begin that path with you, that winding road, guiding you to rediscover and reconnect with nature, with yourself, as you uncover the answers you always had inside. Helping you learn how to orient and navigate the way ahead. Helping you cultivate the confidence, the courage to follow that path, to listen to your inner voice, to clear out all the old stuff that got in the way: those beliefs about yourself or about others, about the world that may have limited you; experiences that may have created old emotions that are continuing to hold you back, that are stuck. Emotions are great. They are important, they communicate so much to us, they allow us to experience life and to heal. But when we suppress and don’t fully feel and release them, they can become stuck and stagnant. They can limit us from moving forward and from healing. They can create disease in the body and in the mind. I’ll work with you to release those stuck emotions and limiting beliefs, whether conscious or unconscious, and to cultivate greater self-awareness, mindfulness, and capacity to tolerate discomfort, uncertainty, and empower you to take back control of your life. In doing this you will be free. Free to courageously walk this winding path before you. To explore what’s inside you, to step into your potential, to expand your world, and to live a clear life.