Life is a patchwork of potential

Life is a patchwork of potential

Oct 23, 2021

It was back before everything changed, when I was flying high over the Canadian Prairies that I took this photo from my window seat. As you may have guessed the original image is far less vivid. A few minutes playing around in Snapseed and an alternate reality came to life. At the time I marveled at my creative awesomeness, shared it around social media, got my thumbs ups and forgot about it.

I look at this picture with a different perspective today

Fair warning, I am about to muse about deeper meanings and perhaps get a bit "woo woo" for many. With that said lets begin......

Before I tell you what I see when I look at this, I encourage you to consider what you see. Perhaps write it down as it comes to you and then reflect back on that when you have finished reading.

Experience

Experience is the word I think of when I look at this now. These are the various fields where Canadian farmers grow wheat, canola and other things all neatly kept within a square border never meant to stray past the edges. All the while a river charts its own way through the landscape unhindered by these boundaries.

Let us pretend the river is you and the fields are possibilities encountered in your path through life. As you start your journey filled with excitement all things could be, all things are out there and its all just beginning. The river of potential is at its greatest. Over the years you explore a few side paths, have a few adventures you never expected, take a few hits from life and gain any number of happy memories. We see these in the river as it branches off its main path, lots of little tributaries that ultimately end with the majority of the water staying the course.

Sooner or later it happens.....a major fork in your life. One where you chose a partner, you have a child, you start a career, you move, you embark on a major journey (physically or spiritually) the possible events that start this process are endless. Why your life reaches this moment is a tapestry of countless experiences that will inform what you do next. Many of these forks are what we think of as normal stages of life, some will be very unexpected and force a choice upon you. But regardless of how they happen, you can safely bank on the fact that they will.

Life continues and we the river explore a few more possibilities but as the river gets further from its source it thins, it starts to branch off far less often, it has fewer purely exploratory experiences with many possibilities before it untouched. This is not by itself a bad thing, there is no reason why any of us must experience anything in particular or rack up a certain number of anything. But I believe many people start to struggle around now, the edges of the picture have frayed, the world seems so narrow, time is running out.

Except the possibilities are wider than ever, richer, full of colour, full of potential. You could chose a life shaking change another major fork in the river if you will or you could simple reach out a little from where you are right now. I have my days with depression with worry and such. Those days can be very hard, but they happen far less when I spend time simply reaching out just a little from where I am right then. When I spend time thinking of the endless what ifs I am more likely to struggle. If instead I try a new experience that was just waiting to be explored I am more likely to be content. For me a new experience can be as simple as going on a brand new trail, or it can even be a trail I have walked many times before, but this time I watch and listen to every sound and sight that captures my attention. The renewal that delivers will get me to the next experience.

I empathize with you if you are struggling, if your at your next fork in the river, or if your stuck in place feeling that there is no way to go. There will be major hurdles that demand attention, that demand a remedy but if life is just fraying you at the edges and you feel that weight starting to push you down I encourage you to take a step, just a little one, try not to get caught up in perfection or analyzing things to much. A new experience can be a breath of life, of fresh air, of potential. It does not have to be expensive either monetarily or personally. I never expected I would be sharing these thoughts with others a couple of years ago, I am not a writer, I am not a film maker, I am not.......except that now I am. Every time I make another film of my trail journeys I get a little better, I have a new experience that lifts me up and hopefully someone else also. Each time I write something like this I suspect I will improve. Whatever happens I am having an experience and I am content in that.

I would like to leave you with a few possibilities for a new experience if your not sure where to start. Pick one, just one and give it a try. If you feel resistance in yourself it may be the barriers that have been erected over time more than a genuine reason to not do something. Each one I share is something that I did which set me down a path of change and growth. None of them are by themselves life changing, but they did create changes as one experience led to another with a cumulative effect over time.

Read a book that you never would default to. New genre, new topics, in particular ones that challenge your current world views.

Listen to a podcast. New genre, new topics, in particular ones that challenge your current world views.

Try a new form of movement that you never have, or haven't in a long time. Walk, jog, swim, bike, hike, kayak, climb a tree.

The theme is doing something you wouldn't normally, learn from those you would not normally. By being challenged we often will grow. Its very hard to move from where we are if we repeat the same things that brought us to that point.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this, if you try any of the above or ones I haven't shared what did you experience? What were the things you have done that made a positive impact in your life?

All the best.

Enjoy this post?

Buy The Wanderer a day on the trails

More from The Wanderer