Life’s pathways

Imagine yourself at the base of the Malvern Hills, as you look around you see buildings, trees and the hills looming upwards.

When obstacles arise in our lives, we may feel that we are in a similar situation, the only way to go is up, we know it will be hard going and we cannot see what lies ahead because the trees cover the pathway or the path meanders around bends in the rock. So, we start to ascend the hill, because time does not stand still and neither can we. We know we cannot re-trace the journey so far, we must go forward and upward. Heading into the trees, we find the tree roots are tangled all across our pathway and the going is steep. We may trip up over the roots, so already we have learnt to look more closely at our pathway to be more surefooted. Then a branch grazes our arm, it hurts and we don’t want that again, another lesson learnt. We slow down, looking at where our feet will tread and at what lies within touching distance of our body. We learn with trial and error how to negotiate the obstacles in our pathway. The more we climb, the more self-confident we become.

Then suddenly, we are out of the trees, the problem has passed. When we look around we find ourselves much further up the pathway than we expected. Just look at that vista now. The buildings are much smaller and we can see whole streets and a few fields. The wall that earlier we could not see past, has become much smaller. It is still there but it is no longer an obstacle. It is now much more in perspective with the rest of our lives.

We constantly re-evaluate what is important to us, living our own personal truth, but the truth we knew and understood, the truth we could see, at the bottom of the hill is very different from the one we find half way up. We now have a much bigger, broader picture to base that truth upon. And so, the journey continues until we finally reach the top, now we can see around us in all directions. There are fields, rivers, towns, lakes and woods all carving up the land in their own unique way. Our truth and wisdom has expanded to a new height , the truth we knew at the bottom of the hill has not changed, it has simply expanded as it evolved with us on our journey.

But remember that your truth is personal only to you. We each take our journey from a different starting point and those only half way up can only see from their angle of vision, they will find it difficult to comprehend what you can see. Also, if you stand with several people at the top of the hill, all facing outwards in different directions, you will each see the same vista from slightly different angles, so always be prepared to bend a little and accept that no two of us can see life in quite the same way.