What's Our Cause?

This early fall morning when I headed out for my taper, I was unprepared for all the other walkers and runners I would meet. Somehow, with my training slowing down in preparation for a half-marathon in a couple of weeks, I foolishly thought that others would be "slowing down" too.

What a surprise! The path was full. Groups of individuals and families, some pushing strollers, all dressed in blue were winding their way through my beloved pathways.

This sea of blue were mostly smiling, the runners and walkers making their way to the Finish armed with new stories to tell. Each getting a medal to celebrate their participation.

Pixabay - Courtesy TracyJaneShaw

People ask me what got me started in partaking in half-marathons. All I know is that I've learned so many valuable lessons along the way. Being part of a group with a common goal, like any endeavour gains momentum when you are doing it in the company of the like-minded. Each day when we strive to support our "team" whether a family member, a colleague and especially a stranger, we are getting closer to being better.

Today I witnessed exuberance, and I also looked in the eyes of those who were struggling. The hills can be daunting, the flats can seem endless, the corners can bear challenges. In the distance we can hear the cheers as those ahead of us get to the Finish. Sort of...like Life. And each day we have to decide What's Our Cause?


You make peace with what isn't. (Click to Tweet)

• you have a vision for a new business - you plan, and you take a step toward it
• you hope for better family relationships - you take a chance at speaking from your heart
• you want to grow older and stay fit - you try out a new yoga class to build some muscle
• you dream of travelling to Stonehenge - you save your pennies today
• you make peace with what isn't

A little girl I know ran her first 1km in that sea of blue today. She's little, and I wonder what went through her mind. I'm guessing that she ran because she loves to run! She and her friend shared an experience. She was part of a group. She got a medal!

 She could, so she did. (Click to Tweet)

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we faced our days with her Cause.

What would happen if we embraced a new goal and just gave it all we had?

Life is a Travel

Traveler, there is no path, 

the path must be forged as you walk. 

Antonio Machado

Life is a travel, travel has no path.

It seems that at this time of year almost everyone you know is packing a bag to go somewhere. Each trip as unique as the traveler. Each planned to give the experience that we think we need at this point in our life.

Life is a Travel

For anyone who has strapped on a backpack and hit the road with their thumb extended to those who pack carefully for a distant adventure done in style, the draw of the unknown is the prize. What will the next curve in the road show you?

How often have you heard someone say that the trip they took changed their lives, and how does this happen when we all know that wherever we go, there we are? We can change our location, we can dress up to disguise, but under it all "There is only one You". 

It is unlikely that if you are an extrovert that you are planning a journey to a secluded island to be by yourself and write in your journal. Or if you are the quiet type that you will plan for a thirty-day bus tour with total strangers. 

And so it is each day of our life travel, we pick we choose where we pause, how fast we want to go, what we see along the way, who we stop for and for how long.


Unless.... you are trying on something new. Unless you have reached a point where you are searching for another side of you. Where the call of the path, any path is deafening and must be listened to.

You'll know when it happens.

We are always moving towards something new (perhaps a person, a job, an adventure, or the making of a name). If we are looking for it, we might find it. But to travel to the unknown is to travel towards yourself.

Please, stay in that moment of each New. See it, taste it, roll it in your mind. Swallow the experience so that it becomes a part of you. Capture it with a photograph, draw it in your notebook, smell it with the freshness of your first experience.

Walk slowly on your travels.


This day will not happen the same again. Keep it. It is only yours. (Click to Tweet)

Whatever path you choose, fellow traveler. Squeeze this New to fit in your heart.

We pick we choose where we pause, what we see along the way, who we stop for and for how long. (Click to Tweet)

Rohn on Planning

I find it fascinating that most people plan their vacations with better care than they plan their lives. Perhaps that is because escape is easier than change.

Jim Rohn
Author and Speaker

More words from Parker J. Palmer

Before I can tell my life what I want to do with it, I must listen to my life telling me who I am.   

Parker J. Palmer, Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation