Wednesday, Jun 1, 2011Stepping Stones of Life

The unfolding of an understanding about you and about life happens one small step at a time. These are the stepping stones of life. You weren’t born an adult. You had to unfold that one step at a time. A pianist has to unfold his skill one step at a time.

This universe has a step by step design too. Each of our 365 days is segmented into am and pm, and then into hours, and then minutes and then seconds. And in each of those seconds, we can take one tiny step toward our greater wishes, wants and desires.

Do you ever rest your head on your pillow at night and ask yourself how many steps toward your greater good were you able to take that day? And have you ever decided then and there which steps you’ll take knowing full well the sun will rise and provide all those seconds for taking more steps tomorrow? Even when you are sleeping, your mind continues the days processing and brings you lessons in your dreams so that you can take more steps. Life is such a wonderful schoolmaster about the taking of the next steps, don’t you think?

I love the divine design of life. I cannot imagine what it would be like to be born and then to have every single decision we’d ever need to make in a lifetime dumped in our laps immediately! It would be overwhelming and not at all kind. The design we currently have – the step by step method – works so much more handsomely.

We need to share these concepts with our children as soon as they can grasp the concept, so that they do not become overwhelmed by their young lives. If all they have to be concerned about is the next step, and if they know they’ll be as capable of taking one step in the future as the stepping stone life, it provides a strong sense of comfort for them.

Making decisions for how we want to live, to grow, to learn, to unfold, to succeed – all these need that step by step method, and each stately step makes our lives that much more enjoyable and satisfying.

If you looked twenty years into your future, would you feel at all overwhelmed at the decisions you’d be asked to make on that future day? I don’t think so, because you’d know from your past experience that each day brings its own challenges PLUS the grace to make the decisions necessary just for that day. And twenty years from now, that same model will still be in place, working for your greater good. I think the Alcoholic’s Anonymous creed to live “One Day At a Time” is truly wise because it honors the step by step method.

If you can keep your mind focused on the day that you are living right now, you may find a measure of calm and renewed confidence in your capabilities. You may also find tremendous relief in the knowledge that this life’s model will ensure you that the future will be as well taken care of as the present is now.

You always have the last say about the manner in which we show up for our lives today and tomorrow, and today’s stepping stones of life decisions have an enormous affect on who we will become and what we will be enjoying (or not) years from now. If we can remain fully conscious in the day at hand, enjoying all it has to offer and putting our thoughts into making the most of it, we will find that today’s experiences create the new us – perfectly ready and capable to handle any future life can dish up.

“Each forward step we take we leave some phantom of ourselves behind.” ~John Lancaster Spalding