My Fearless Path

“It is better to do your own duty

badly, than to perfectly do

another’s; you are safe from harm

when you do what you should be doing.”

This quote from the Bhagavad Gita first touched my heart two years ago when shared by my teacher and mentor, MP.  She asked us to contemplate whether we were following the path of someone else and following it perfectly or following our own path badly.  I thought, hmmmm, “whose path am I on?”.  By the time I returned home, the wonder and questioning had ceased.  It’s amazing how quickly something can deeply touch us and moments later be forgotten.

Was it forgotten or simply feared?  I believe the latter to be true.   I convinced myself that I was on the right path.  But,  I had forgotten my dreams.  My dreams of writing and teaching.  Along my journey, my desire to become a teacher became business administrator at a large international company, a Mommy, and caregiver to my parents.  I allowed my dream of writing to be squashed when my magazine submission was rejected.  My state of mind – I tried, I failed.  Check those dreams off the list.  I took the road less feared – no rejection, criticism, jealousy and/or failure.

I am now embracing my fear so I may walk “my path”.  Today, I write facing my fear of criticism.  I study yoga and train to become a yoga instructor/teacher facing my fear of rejection and failure.  I continue to face fears that have disabled me on my journey embracing each along “my path”.  It may be a journey filled with mistakes, the journey may be long and curvy, but it will be a journey along the path to fulfillment.  The fulfillment of my dreams. On this earth, we are given one journey to fulfill our dreams.  Make your journey your own, along your own path.  Keep your focus on today…not your fear of tomorrow or your failure of yesterday….and your dreams will be fulfilled.

“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist