Moral of the story, when you are feeling anxious or stressed, ask yourself: What is the worst that can happen? Then assess, can you handle that situation and is it as untenable or scary as you think? If not, put things into perspective and know that whatever situation, trust yourself and that you’ve got this. Now, use that in our daily situations as how we do the daily and small stuff, is a reflection of, and helps us handle the bigger stuff.

We tell ourselves our priorities are X, Y and Z. But if one were to look at your calendar and how you spent your time this past week, month and year, would it reflect that?

In climbing, part of the Warrior’s Way is to ask oneself, is this part of the climb making me uncomfortable or scared? If the answer is yes, this is where you start practicing falling. You choose to keep falling in that area until it becomes not scary, familiar, and you know what to expect. It’s brilliant.

Fate is something that will happen and Destiny is one of the five options we choose from, on how to get there. We plan for certain routes and find that the ones we took are not quite what we had intended, no matter how strong the resolution or will. The most frustrations we experience are when we are using all of our Will to try and make something happen; something we Want, rather than allowing whatever it is to take place that we Need.

The next time you find yourself making some very resolute life plans, remember, you can plan as much as you want and attempt to execute with all the might you have. And it may come out exactly as you had envisioned. But keep an open heart and mind that it may go in a very different direction as Life may have a different vision for you.

Everything can change in one instant

I know this intellectually but often, as I think we all do, I need to re-experience something to remember the lesson.

Everything can change in one instant. You get that call and are told you won the lottery; you got your dream job; landed that big client or account; your loved one has cancer; you just got hit by a car or given news that you will never walk again. It can be both good or bad news, but things can change at the turn of a dime.

It is rare for us to just sit, and be satisfied in the moment. In the chaos of it all. To just revel in life. To go, wow this is perfect as it is. I am always looking at my laundry basket and thinking, when it’s empty, all the clothes are washed, dried and nicely put away, I’ll feel better. Even if it’s for just one day. Then I realized, this is a micro analogy for what we do in life generally speaking.

So now, whenever I see my laundry basket and the one, or many items of clothing that need to be washed, despite me just having done a load, I smile and remember to be grateful for the messiness and ongoing-ness of life. There is no pause, there is no one moment where everything is perfect. Because as corny as it sounds, every moment is perfect. We are all perfectly imperfect.

In our lives, we are constantly reinventing ourselves.

We grow, we die many times, and we evolve.

It takes resilience to be able to transform, again and again. To rediscover our old selves in new environments and to evolve so that we are the same, yet different. Better, wiser, humbler, and able to be more stoic about life’s ups and downs.

We will never be fully ready for whatever it is we are preparing for. Whether it’s the “right time” to have kids, write that book, quit that job, sign up for that stand-up gig, leave that unhealthy relationship—familial, romantic or platonic. We always find a reason to put it off, even if just a day. But we just need to do it: Right. Now.

So what triggered this thought?

All paths lead to the same destination. Are you happy in how you are walking along this trail? Is your journey one filled with being present, living with joy, love, pride and light? Are you proud of the route you are picking? Are you willing to face the consequences of your actions? Are you willing to do the hard things?

Can you say that in this hike of life, you are facing your fears, sweating through but making it up that steep hill and taking a deep breath of beautiful air when you get to the top of that hill? Are you taking a moment to pat yourself on the back and enjoy the view? Then taking the next steps to continue on this hike and ready for the next set of muddy areas that your feet may get stuck in? Are you living your life authentically and to the fullest? We don’t need to know the answer, only you do in your heart. And to remember that all paths lead to the same One Path in the end.

We grow the most when we “fail”, press past our comfort zones or have no other choice. Usually, the scariest thing in our heads are the ones that will lead to the greatest evolution. When we face our fear and go into the discomfort, we find that it was not as scary as we thought it might be. And the relief, and result tend to be very rewarding.

It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself. If you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul. If you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.