...and the journey is all you really have.

If you had (have) me as your coach, or if you've attended one of my seminars or trainings the past 5 years, there's a chance you heard me say these words. More than once. 

First and foremost, I share those words to remind myself of not losing sight of life as the journey that it is. We all come to the end of our lives as naked and empty-handed as on the day we were born. So you better live life with this in mind and fully embrace, appreciateand get the most out of this journey you're making between birth and death.

When this insight hits home inside of you, most likely you feel energetic and enthusiastic to make life happen. You come up with goals you desire to create in life. You focus on your goals, whether it is making your business thrive, having an amazing inner circle of people around you, being in a sparkling love relationship with that special one and achieve success in life, no matter how you wish to define success in your life. But what most of us seem to forget is that any goal you define and select to focus on is "just" one of the many destinations in the journey we call life. 

Destinations are wonderful to reach, but they all have one thing in common: sooner or later you'll have to let them go and you'll have to move on. You'll have to continue your journey. Life as a journey is a constant motion forward. 

Although I do believe I'm mastering this notion more and more in my life, as my life, I still find myself struggling every once in a while. Mostly struggling with this "constant motion forward" itself. You see, some "destinations" I love so much, I just don't want to let go and move on. I want to stay exactly where I am, and hold on to it, take my time and let it linger, even forever. As a little girl, I had this habit of closing my eyes for a few seconds every time I felt very happy, like on my birthday having my friends with me at home and we're having fun. My parents knew that I did this because I literally wanted to stop the time, pause and tell life "don't move forward, stay right here, I want to be here forever".

Many years later, I am aware that this is attachment and basically forgetting and sometimes even fighting against what life is all about. Your goals, or in other words your "destinations" - all those physical things, people and forms that you desire to experience in life - are just experiences you can never have because of their inherent fleeting character. Everything in life has an inherent fleeting character, that's just another way to express that life is a journey and a constant motion forward. 

Nowadays, I catch myself when I attach to my goals and sometimes even lose myself in those "destinations". Every single time this happens it seems to be more painful than the time before, especially when it comes to beautiful experiences with other human beings. The pain gets more intense as if I am being taught a lesson I can't seem to grasp fully yet. Slowly but surely, I do realise what the lesson is: I think I love the "destinations" - the events, successes and even people in my life - but to be brutally honest, I don't love them truly because love is not the same as attachment. Every single time I seem to get closer to understanding - not only intellectually but also emotionally - the distinction between love and attachment, and this feels like getting closer to mastery of life. 

So my message to you today is: when you focus on the goals you desire to create in your life, see them as "destinations" you don't want to attach yourself to. Instead, focus(also and maybe more) on the journey and capture love in it. Love is when you don't forget who you are, you are life, you are a journey, and start finding yourself letting go easily of "destinations" while being grateful for each one when you hit them. That's when you understand that life is a journey and the journey is all your really have.

What do you think? Leave me a message in the comment section below, I'd love to hear from you.

- W.