More and more this mysterious life comes together
It may take years to reveal the whole
That’s all right
I’m prepared to go the distance
– Deng Ming-Dao, 365 Tao
Planning a life is tricky business. We all want to accomplish things. The balance comes in combining meritorious short-term accomplishments with the satisfaction of seeing long-term plans come to fruition.
The best way to strike this balance is to find what you were meant to do with this life and then go and do it. Our time on this planet is too short for us to squander it by not chasing our dreams. We must follow our hearts and trust our instincts because our hearts will tell us where to go and our instincts will tell us how to get there.
More and more this mysterious life comes together…
Chasing dreams provides a variety of useful lessons.
Some dreams you will catch – life’s great prize.
Some dreams will elude you – life’s great lesson.
Some dreams you will continue to chase – life’s great challenge.
The challenge comes not from the actual work involved in being on your path. If you are doing something you have a knack for, and something your heart tells you to do, almost by definition you will find that work both enjoyable and while it will be challenging, it may not be particularly difficult.
The hard part comes in doing it every day. You cannot build a satisfying life following your heart one day and not the next. You will not look back on a life well-lived by following your instincts for a few weeks then ignoring them the rest of the year.
It may take years to reveal the whole…
Each day there are a hundred and one distractions to knock off us off our path and it takes courage to live the life we were meant to live. It takes patience to let the whole of our lives reveal itself.
I’m prepared to go the distance…
Life is relentless and we must be relentless, too. We must relentlessly live the life we were meant to live. Only by doing so will we ensure a life filled with short-term accomplishments and long-term successes. Only by being relentless will we ensure we are making our time serve us, instead of merely serving time on this planet.
