The Journey is the Reward

I've used the Taoist saying, "The journey is the reward" many times. I recently came across another saying that compliments the statement:

"The initial mystery that attends each journey is:how did the traveller reach his starting point in the first place?" -- Louise Bogan (American poet)

You are on a journey. Your life is a journey - whether that be your spiritual journey, your journey through age, your professional journey, etc. You must stay focused on the inner journey to hear life's secrets, to know the mystery, to have the wisdom revealed.

A friend was telling me recently about her "rediscovery" of who she really is - her true identity. She had been "trying on" new perceptions and behaviors that just didn't suit her. She called to tell me her new revelation - I know who I AM! I'm not that "leaf in the wind" floating willy-nilly through the air after all! I really do have roots, a foundation, a basis for my SELF. She was trying to be something she isn't and that is a formula for much unhappiness.

Ah, the journey is the reward. So true. If I only focus on the destination I may miss the joy of discovery along the way. This is especially true as we transition from one thing to another. Dynamic Transitioning INSISTS that we honor the journey and pay attention to the "smell the roses" factor - what's going on with me, with those around me, with the world, the workplace, the school, etc. The joy is in the journey. The joy is in knowing who you are. Know Thyself, not in a limiting sense, but in the sense of having a foundation. From that base you can extend as far as the eye can see. You can soar, you can fly, you can dream. And you always have a homebase to return to, to re-charge, to retreat. This is not limiting. This is the ultimate freedom.

I cannot believe that the inscrutable universe turns on an axis of suffering; surely the strange beauty of the world must somewhere rest on pure joy! Louise Bogan