What is my Destiny?

Hello and welcome back to Second Chance to Live. I am so happy to see that you decided to stop by to visit with me. You are always welcome around my table. Several years ago the movie, Forrest Gump was applauded by those who watched Forrest’s determination. Several lines from that movie stood out to me. “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get”. The second line that resonated with me was when Forrest asked his mother, along the lines of “What is my destiny Mama?” Both these lines rang true to me. I felt like I had been given a box full of dark chocolate, bitter to my taste and that my destiny was fading into a dark comedy of errors. I have since discovered that I was blind and could not see.

Helen Keller summed up my plight so accurately, “When one door closes, another opens. But we often look so regretfully upon the closed door that we don’t see the one that has opened for us.”

I was so focused on what I wanted and expected to happen, that I could not see what was happening. But it was not time. I still had to learn the lessons that my journey would reveal. One such lesson was a hard lesson to learn. My training in the martial arts opened my eyes. For many years I was focused on the next promotion and the color of my belt. When I was not promoted as quickly as my peers I asked my Instructor, ‘Why?”. He told me that I was not ready.

“Why?” I was not ready mystified me because I trained hard. As I continued to train I struggled to understand. One day I had a spiritual awakening that changed my life. I began to realize — as with a new dawn — that the outcome of a promotion or a belt color change was not as important as what I was learning on my journey — towards being promoted and earning the next rank and color. With my awareness my martial arts training took on a new meaning which helped me to refocus my life. In the process, my motivation in life changed forever.

The process took on a new meaning. The process became of far greater importance than obtaining a brown or black belt or for that matter any other outcome in life.

I have learned that becoming fully present in the moment equips me to empty my mind of expectation. This discipline helps me to focus my energy and thus develop my own jeet kune do. I have learned that life does not have to look different than it does. My destiny is yet to be revealed. I do not need to build a legacy. My life paints, as it were with a brush each day and with each process — and that is good enough.

Courage helps me to be willing to learn the next lesson and to keep painting. With each brush stroke — process — my destiny becomes apparent.

More ways to experience your destiny, The Measure of Destiny?

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