Staying the Course

Staying the Course. How do you know what the course is though? There are so many different paths to take and so many ways to accomplish goals. I have a very tough time staying the course. I believe it's the best way to move forward, however, I love a mystery. I love the thrill of discovering something new. I love following a new path, a new lead. I love being lost and surprised and thrilled at unexpected encounters. I think that this is what has made me successful in the ways I want to be, and at the same time, it's the characteristic that shoots me in the foot right when I'm about to really soar. I've been trying to write about this subject for awhile. In fact, I've been going to the lake for inspiration on this and looking for signs from the universe, and I have not been able to grasp it until today. This quote from Henry Miller came in my email:

"All growth is a leap in the dark, a spontaneous unpremeditated act without the benefit of experience."
-– Henry Miller
sent from a newsletter: Today's Inspiration
dailyinspiration@newsletters.my-daily-inspiration.net

This rings completely true to my heart, and completely false to my brain. As I spend a little time with it I realize why. Yes, all growth is a leap in the dark, a spontaneous act. But, it can be premeditated, it can be thought out in great detail, and it always benefits from experience. It just may seem like the pieces don't connect, before the leap is taken.

I took the photo above of prints, I think they are geese and maybe ducks. There could be some frogs. I think of this location as the frog bog entrance to the log, the framed views that I've posted here with the iris reeds in front are taken from standing here. When I saw the prints, I thought that this was the perfect illustration for my 'staying the course' post, but I didn't know why. Now I do. It's because it embodies the course, the mystery, the spontaneity, the experience that embeds itself in a being, and the leap.

The Course: These webbed-footed creatures were going somewhere, one foot in front of the other.
The Mystery: Who were they, and why do those big prints stop? Did they fly away? Jump to the lake? Fly back?
The Spontaneity: Did they know where they were going? Even if they did, we don't. Did they just wander in and say, hey, this looks like a good place to hang?
The Experience: The geese have likely been to lakes before, if not this exact location and so they know it's a place with conditions that work for them.
The Leap: They're not there anymore. They lept.

We've been traveling the last week or so for a variety of reasons, and all those deviations from my course have turned out to actually be the course.