Look Before You Leap

Being willing to let go of our tight grasp on our map and go with the flow does not mean that we put on a blind fold and leap. Using our senses to look, listen and feel are part of what keeps us from falling off the road. It doesn't seem to me that we are meant to leap without looking.

Our map is a tool that we've been given to help us understand where we want to go and how we can get there. It is not our only tool, we have many tools to use to help us find the safest, most direct or most scenic route. Our map as well as our senses, both physical and intuitive, and those who offer us directions are tools too.

Sometimes the trip is scary and we want to just shut off our senses, we don't want to see or hear about any of the bad accidents or know about the big bend in the road up ahead. We might even want to just sit back and have someone else drive us down the road. There is nothing wrong with having someone help guide us in our driving, but it seems we are meant to drive ourselves and not sit back waiting for others to do all the work of getting us to our destination.

Putting blinders on and not taking responsibility for our trip might lead to us falling completely off of the road that we are meant to be on. After all, the route someone else might take could be perfect for them, but is it perfect for us? Is it the route everyone needs to or has to take?

It seems if we want to get to where we feel we are intended to be, we need to take off our blind folds, look before we leap and take a hold of the wheel. Going with the flow does not mean blindly and helplessly floating along, it seems to mean determining where we intend to go, looking at our map and then relaxing and using our tools to make the journey. Our tools include our own vision, intuition and understandings as well as the guidance and direction offered by others who may have been headed to the same destination we would like to get to.

Letting go of the idea that we have to have complete control and have to follow a specific route on the map does not mean blindly leaping, it means looking before we leap, but being opened to leaping even when we know the path may not be completely clear to us or what we had envisioned.

We may not reach our destination without some bumps in the road or detours along the way. The route we thought would be the most direct and easiest to use might not be the one we end up on, but if we are paying attention and opened to going with the flow, we will get where we are meant to go and if we are relaxed about it all, we may even enjoy the trip.