Find Your Own Path

I saw a tweet recently which went something like this: 'Find your own path and then show others the way'. I very much like this, but prefer the idea of showing another the way only if it seems right for them and only until they are able and ready to find their own.

There are a multitude of voices crying out 'this way' or 'follow me' and it can be bewildering at times to know which path to take. This applies to all areas of life from fashion, to spirituality, to health, to you name it. There is always someone who says that they know best.

I, certainly, have tried a few different routes only to find they weren't suitable for me. Some things have been fabulous and beneficial and some have become lifelong habits, like mediation and cycling.

I believe that each and every one of us has an innate knowledge of what we need to be doing and what is right for us at any moment. This facility however, is pretty much undeveloped in the majority of human beings (me included) which makes us very easy to manipulate by the voice of authority in all its forms.

I have a wonderful true story to tell which illustrates the wisdom of following one's own way, despite the prevailing wisdom of the time:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was hitch hiking home one day (this was when hitch hiking was common and safe in Ireland about 12 years ago) and was given a lift by a white haired man who must have been in his seventies.

Amidst the general run of our conversation this is what he said: 'I am an unusual man; I can sing both male and female parts, my hair is growing back and I have a third set of teeth growing through' and he opened his mouth to show me two rows of beautiful small white baby teeth.

After he had dropped me off at my destination, I pondered over our meeting and wondered what sort of a lifestyle and diet he had. As synchronicity would have it, I met him in a local shop the very next day and was able to ask what he did to produce such unusual results. This was his reply: ' I don't eat any vegetables and my diet mainly consists of Ambrosia Creamed Rice and Honey'.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I love this story and have told it to many people, these are some of the responses I have had to my telling of it; my dentist didn't believe it was possible, a woman said that one of her relatives grew a third set of teeth and lived into her 100s, a friend said that she thought the man was eating baby food and another woman said she'd go out and buy some Ambrosia Creamed Rice straight away!

What I took from this encounter, was that the man was following what his body said was right for him, despite the dietary wisdom of the day. If I followed that diet I'm absolutely certain I'd do very badly on it. Unfortunately, I didn't have the wit to ask how he came to choose such a diet and never met him again.

In my own life, I have had followed several strong inner urges, which have taken me against the grain, the fashion or other peoples well meaning advice. Seen in the fullness of time, they have proved to be the promptings of my inner wisdom and its only with hindsight, that I can see that I was following my own unique path.