Deviation from My Path

I hope you all are well and enjoying the beginning of summer. I am entering my last week of teaching here in Westchester. Even as I type those words I can feel my heart swell a bit. This has been and will continue (I expect for the next couple of months) to be an intense emotional ride and I am trying to ride those waves which as much grace as possible (which at times feels like gripping the side of a surf board with both hands hoping not to submerge :)). 

My daughter’s high school graduation was this past Saturday. It was a windy, sunny day at a park adjacent to the Hudson River with a beautiful sky full of white puffy clouds and a crowd full of smiling faces. As I fought back tears and listened to the speakers, I found myself inspired.

One of the Valedictorians spoke about his love of predicting snow storms. He loved it because it was unpredictable and he talked about how exciting unpredictability can be. I was impressed with the wisdom coming from such a young person and I was grateful to be reminded of that message as I enter into a time of such unpredictability and change in my own life. Of course he was speaking to his classmates and all that they have ahead of them but the message truly does apply to us all.

The unpredictability of life is one of the only true guarantees we can depend on. Unpredictability is scary because it reminds us of all that we cannot fully predict or control.

What we do have control over however is how we respond in those times when our lives head in unexpected directions. There have been many times in my own life when the journey took me down a path I was not expecting (or wanting). Very often in those times I have found true gratitude for that deviation. It provided me with the opportunity to realize that what I may have viewed as a “deviation from my path” was actually instead very much “a part of it”.

Unpredictable times can be times of miraculous freedom– a chance to surrender to the twisty path that is life, to ride the waves a little lighter and to soften the tight grip we often hold on our desire to control. This is what I am practicing these days and what I wish for all of you during times of transition and unpredictability.