Allow me to borrow a quote from Mark Twain (which Kendra found on another sailing blog)
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” -Mark Twain
That about perfectly sums it up for both of us. But I (Matt) shall humbly expound upon the Honorable Twain's musings with some of my own... it's a bit long-winded, but a fair summation of my basic life philosophy.
I have the belief that the only real path that can grant you a certain peace in your heart, lies in forging a permanent two-way conduit from the deepest recesses of your heart and mind directly to the surface of your conscious thought. Along this path lies a continual quest to expose every chamber of your deepest thoughts to the light of day for the purpose of examination. Let not a single dark idea or festering emotion hide down there in the depths, deviously exacting its influence upon your unknowing self. Your mind is not a prison and you are not its prison guard. You cannot lock your unwanted baggage in a penitentiary of your own making. It will escape. It will find a way out. And when it does, it’s going to be mad as hell.
I will not here describe how I think this should be accomplished. Only that it must if you ever truly want to have meaning in your life. A meaning that, without fail, traces back to our individual capacity for our greatest gift of emotion, love. To unlock your fullest capacity for love, it must be allowed to permeate throughout your entire being. Anger, sorrow, regret, guilt, hate… these take up a lot of room. How can you ever love someone with all of your heart when you keep making long-term reservations for those unwanted guests? Have the courage to look into the eyes of the little critters that lurk in the deep shadows of your mind and blind them with the light of the Sun.
What roads you may follow in life are entirely up to you, and in doing so, you must choose to ignore other paths. Yes, ignore. This distinction is significant only in that, individually, we can only move in one direction at a time. When you look back upon your life, do you see that you have followed two paths? The answer is No and the reason is that the journey across whichever grounds you have tread, no matter how unorthodox, trying, or duplicitous, becomes your path –the ONE path that you have forged. Thus, even as you choose from a multitude of possible paths to your future, you will tread only one path. I believe that understanding this ‘tool of thought’ enables us to set our sights clearly upon where we wish to go and, just as importantly, how we wish to get there. If I am not clear, allow me this: It is physically impossible for you be two places at once, though it is very possible to reach the same place by an infinite number of paths. I put forth that both the path, and the destination are of equal importance. The concept of setting a path to reach your goals is not a new concept, but if, as I contend, the path is as important as the destination, then we must continually and carefully evaluate each step we take. I say ‘must’ only on the condition that you care to look back and feel good about where you have been.
So I ask myself now, “have you set your sights upon a suitable destination?” I suggest that the path to that destination is to endeavor to know yourself, and whatever choices you make, will ultimately lead to that destination. Endeavor to know yourself, and do it for the rest of your life.
Matthew Miles
