It’s been more than a year since the start of the 50@50 journey and I’m quickly approaching a year since the Newfoundland trip as well. A lot has happened since then. I’ve been at home all that time. I haven’t been on the road, aside from a brief vacation with the family. The year has been consumed with life, work, family, and a number of milestones. It’s been a “Journey In Place” for me.

“My expectation though was that I’d be able to bring more of who I am “on the road” to who I am when I’m off the road. I’ve talked about how on the road I’m fully in the moment and I feel that I’ve risen above the noise of everyday stuff. On the road I’m not sweating the small stuff. Yet, when I’m off the road I find that I have to work harder to keep my head above the noise and maintain a positive perspective. Gratitude and positivity are my copilots when I’m on the road. When I’m off the road, I have to be so much more diligent about how I let things affect me. Gratitude and positivity slip into the background too easily at times.”

~Ram Dass

~Ram Dass

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I’m going to stop “grading” myself on the spiritual scale of “yoginess” or enlightenment achievement. Simply, I’m going to accept “what-is” and “who-I-am.” I’m going to continue being in the moment and finding whatever instantaneous moments of bliss that touch me.

 
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The realization for all of us to wrap our heads around is that there is only one journey that we know of, which simply is our time on this planet, alive. Everything else is an experience that is a branch on the big journey. All the individual adventures and journeys we experience are just integrated components of your life. I continue to remind myself that even at home, the journey continues. It’s a Journey in Place, at home, recognizing the adventure of life. Now that’s not to say I wouldn’t at times want to be on the bike, on the road, traveling each day, with an easier connection to the newness of each moment. That opportunity will come again. For now, I remind myself that I’m on a Journey in Place, at home.

I remind myself, the best is here and now, that the adventure continues, and with each moment you are more than you were then. With struggles, ups and downs, successes and setbacks, that you embrace it all with gratitude, acceptance, passion and enthusiasm. Embrace it all with gratitude for simply being. Know that all you have to do in this life is simply be. Simply be alive. Simply experience and embrace life each day with gratitude and a sense of adventure living in the moment. Everything else you achieve on this journey is a wonderful gift built on your hard work, and passion and desire to live a life of purpose. Remember to breathe deep, to pause and value the moment, and to smile.

 

Enlightenment is a process whose outcome is to minimize and/or eliminate suffering and to maximize Joy & Well-Being. Enlightenment is not a destination that you can arrive at in the future. Enlightenment is not a state to achieve that is somewhere outside yourself. Enlightenment can only be known in the present moment.

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“I used to want you to see me. I wanted to be seen.
I used to want you to hear me. I wanted to be heard.
I used to want you to understand me. I wanted to be understood.
Now in this moment I am present, I am aware, I am my true self, which I have always been and always will be.
I am a Being simply being. ”