The Path Ahead

It seems that as of late there has been much talk from many in blog land about the feeling of change in the air. From a sense of restlessness to the need to make major changes in the path some are traveling. It is natural for us to want to turn inward at this time of the year. It is natural for us to reflect inward and ask ourselves questions concerning the path we are traveling and possibly the detours that we may want or sometimes need to consider. Yet still the sense seems to be heavy this year. We feel the need to re-evaluate our stance in the bigger picture of it all.

I myself have felt this pull. I will say that it has been a new thing for me. Although Fall has always been a season that I truly love it has never been a time for retrospect or major change. Yet here it is and like so many others I too feel the pull that is so obvious in the air. Many have been talking in regards to their past and the struggles they endured and overcame; the key word being “overcame”. Others have spoken of the need they have felt to re-examine their belief structure and the path they may be following.

It seems that many are heavy with the sense of a coming change. We have attempted to quench this feeling with making subtle, sometimes major, changes in our own lives yet still the feeling is there. The world is a different place today. No one can argue that point. The simplicity that used to be an everyday occurrence is often hard to find, and many times nonexistent if one does not actually put it there themselves. The world is running at full speed trying to maintain as well as evolve continuously into bigger and better things. Is this really good? I cannot help but ask myself these questions. Often I sit and long for a more quiet time; when technology was not so prevalent in the world, when it did not control us as it does now.

The only constant I have is my beliefs and the solace they bring to me. The knowledge or should I say inner feeling that at the end of the day it still is all good, despite the deaths occurring each day due to war, crime, injustice, hatred, and so on. Despite the natural disasters that occur killing hundreds and sometimes thousands of people not to mention the ones who do survive yet lose everything. Despite the thousands of children who have to live in unspeakable conditions due to poverty and abuse. Whose young years are lived without someone to tuck them in each night and tell them they are loved. And the list could go on and on.

To look at the accumulation of all such things can easily be overwhelming to anyone. To ignore its presence is even worse. Yet what can one do? Still the world spins, and still it continues to “evolve”. There is a change coming, or at least a change needed. This is the weight that many of us feel. What is it that needs to happen to “set things right” again? Can it be set right? My feeling is that it will probably get worse before it gets better. As anytime you work to get a festering thorn out of an infected area, it is painful.

Grounding ourselves in what we believe, remembering that there are others who need us, and keeping our eyes and minds open to the occurrences around us (ie: not sticking our heads in the sand and ignoring the signs) are just a few of the things that can help. It is a wise man who listens and sees the signs that are around him, taking notice to that which he knows to be right and acting upon those enlightenments. It is a fool who sees them and does nothing, for his fate is chosen by no one but himself.