In the long run it
mattered less which path I took
then what I did thereon.
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Many Paths Taken by G A Rosenberg
Tag: paths
Interacting With the Paths Not Taken
“Sometimes I can hear my bones straining under the weight of all the lives I’m not living.”
— Jonathan Safran Foer
I enjoy the life I’m living. As it is I feel truly fortunate and blessed. At times tho I hear echoes of all the other mes out there on the paths I chose not to walk. Lives of adventure and unpredictability where I am less settled. Lives on the road where my Kerouacian adventures on the road lasted beyond my thirties where I did not have a partner or kids. Lives that might be on the surface freer but also with less depth and meaning than what I feel I have now. These lives and selves call out to me especially at times when I feel weighed down and lacking. They are friends and give me signposts and hints about aspects of my life I may need to work on. At times I can meet them at the crossroads of dreams and they meet me halfway. Still I prefer not to trade with them even at the roughest times yet I value their advice. They give me the knowledge and confidence that other paths are always available. The choice is always ours
Blessings, G
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Receiving Visions by G A Rosenberg
Dream State Commencing by G A Rosenberg
Intertwined Tales
“Our lives, our stories, flowed into one another’s, were no longer our own, individual, discrete.”
― Salman Rushdie
Who can say their story is wholly their own? Whether or not we intend them to our lives touch each others usually in the best ways. We form relationships and intertwine our experiences and our paths out of choice or out of the necessity of learning what the other has to offer. At the beginning of our lives we start out as part of the tale of our parents and from there as our own story unravels we become part of so many others. Without other people how many tales would we have? Would it be an endless soliloquy? Even when alone we are part of the story of the Earth and the humanity upon it. By reading these words I have become part of your tale and you part of mine. May our story be a happy one full of joy and love.
Blessings, G
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Portal Liaison by G A Rosenberg
Border Crossing by G A Rosenberg
Along the Path
“Face your life, its pain, its pleasure, leave no path untaken.”
― Neil Gaiman
For each of us there is but one path. On the physical, it begins when we draw breath and continues to when we draw our last one. Oh we may believe we’ve leaped from path to path, perhaps as we’ve made radical jumps either in our belief systems or our lives but that is illusory. No matter what path we follow, it is merely one who’s trail we parallel for however long we do. The best part of that is that it means we can never lose our way. Indeed with each step taken we blaze it. At times our paths take us to some pretty dark places but then for most, the light shines eventually. Others learn to appreciate the darkness for what it is.. Let’s all follow our way with spirit, humour, honour , gratitude and style and remember we can always change direction but never truly leave our path just veer off in new directions.
Blessings, G
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Solar Activity by G A Rosenberg
Teenager on Sky Train by G A Rosenberg
Flowers poke out through the Holes in My Road — Thought Flow
“Normality is a paved road: It’s comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow on it.”
― Vincent van Gogh
Normality is a comfortable walk? Perhaps for some, I have never found it so but then it seems it is a road I have oft missed. I stand estranged from most it seems, the Fool on the hill, the Joker in the deck, ever leaping and having thoughts that others don’t. Not necessarily clearer thoughts or better ones but different. Still they suit me and if I find that my thoughts and fancies keep me alone even when surrounded by loved ones well, that happens too. The more mainstream I have tried to be, the more I pave my road, the more flowers and weeds grow through. Perhaps paving in grape jelly is not the way to go? Seriously, or maybe frivolously I know that my road being its own that it probably is normal for me and others well enough have stuck with me that they must get some entertainment even if its just the strange colours.
Blessings, G
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Guardian by G A Rosenberg
Fusion in the Heart of a Star by G A Rosenberg
The Road Not (Really) Taken
“What’s in store for me in the direction I don’t take?”
― Jack Kerouac
Our lives are determined by our choices. Large and small we come to crossroads daily, knowing that any decision we make may have lasting consequences. Years later we may reflect on life’s crossroads and wonder “What if?” We may spend time reflecting on what our lives would be like if we had only turned right rather than left.
Back in my younger days I used to try to cheat this. I’d stand in the crossroads trying to look down the roads of any possible choices as far as I could. I would then with loud HOORAHs choose a course go down it a short ways until something felt off and then would curry back to the centre thinking that NOW i would make my REAL choice. I did that for years with many many decisions and misfires. Eventually it dawned on me that those choices did count and the act of choosing them changed me so even when I went back to the centre, I was not the same one who had chosen the first time. For it is each choice that determines our life and our path is EVERYTHING that we do, even and perhaps especially the misfires.
Blessings, G
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Serpentine Web by G A Rosenberg
Gossamer Dream by G A Rosenberg
Quote of the Day – February 26 2013
“Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.”
– Henry David Thoreau
When I was younger I would often go into a state that I called ‘the dark’. During those periods, nothing seemed to make a whole lot of sense and I felt alone and friendless and nothing seemed quite worthwhile. More than anything else I felt lost. This state came about more often than not at the end of one of my ‘adventures’ where I tried to twist my life and my experience into a new shape or religion or belief structure only to find out that it wasn’t the answer. I would despair of ever finding the answer.
Eventually I learned that there was not an external answer in the way that I had thought. The reason why no one else’s path worked for me was that I am on my own path. This does not mean that truth does not exist nor that I always walk alone. Merely that my way consisted of learning as much as I could about as many paths and lifestyles and beliefs as possible and that it all led to formulating my understanding. This has been an ongoing process and one that I feel fairly sure will be unending. After all, the elephant has a lot of parts. More and more this realization has led to larger and larger periods of self-discovery. I am mapping myself as I go.
Blessings, G
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Indigo Bubble by G A Rosenberg
At the End of the Tunnel by G A Rosenberg
Quote of the Day – January 7 2013
“The warrior who trusts his path doesn’t need to prove the other is wrong”
— Paulo Coelho
I have noticed a disturbing trend lately. People, who’s opinion I value and whom I think of as amazing spiritual beings interested in self-development have problems when they encounter someone who’s on a path that’s way different then the theirs. It’s as if by living my life a certain way I am challenging their sense of themselves. What makes this even more strange is that they see this as being a horrible thing to do and occasionally feel victimized by my stating my truth. I LOVE having my sense of self challenged and tested. Quite often it points out my blind spots and enables me to learn. By integrating someone else’s story with mine I can learn so much and often gain a lesson in compassion. If we fully live in our story and that includes not only the possibility of change but the inevitability of it as well, then we can face another’s story with pleasure even if it is wildly different. Do we only go to movies or read books that only show people similar to ourselves or do we go to for a brief time inhabit another world. Why would we condemn the world that we can enter through another’s eyes? Blessings, G
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Tarot – Nine of Swords by G A Rosenberg
Spoked by G A Rosenberg
Quote of the Day – November 9 2012
“What’s in store for me in the direction I don’t take?”
― Jack Kerouac
Today I was a freedom fighter, standing up for the rights of my chosen family against the despots occupying my land. Today I reached a new breakthrough at the meditation retreat and wondered if I would ever have to go back. Today someone put flowers on my grave. Today i sold a record amount. Today I crossed another day off the calendar and realized that in three months my time was up and I would be released. Today I invoked gods and goddesses, understood and steeped myself in ignorance…So many versions of me existing just a ripple away, Tho all in their own way are growing in awareness and understanding no matter how hard they fight it. Each of them explore some other meaning and perhaps one of them is you.
Blessings, G
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Pensive by G A Rosenberg
Universal Eye by G A Rosenberg
Pensive Inversion by G A Rosenberg
Quote of the Day – November 1 2012
“She wasn’t afraid of difficulties; what frightened her was being forced to choose one particular path.
Choosing a path meant having to miss out on others. She had a whole life to live and she was always thinking that, in future, she might regret the choices she made now.
‘I’m afraid of committing myself,’ she thought to herself. She wanted to follow all possible paths and so ended up following none.
― Paulo Coelho, Brida
Wow…this one rings so true for so much of my life. The great illusion of choosing among paths and keeping my options open has controlled so many of my decisions. Recently tho I finally realized that whether I chose a path or not I have been on a path the whole time. And like any other path it has been made up of every step I’ve taken no matter what direction and that’s ok.. Where does that bring me? Well where does any path bring us.. from beginning to end and like any other path, its what I do along the way that matters.
Blessings, G
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