Get an “A” for Effort

They say patience is a virtue and it certainly can be an admiral quality, but it’s important we not confuse patience with complacency. Patience for others, waiting your turn and being patient with ourselves as we embark on new adventures, work towards new goals and learn new skills are all great ways to apply this quality. We are being patient while doing an action - something very different than waiting around doing nothing- saying that we are just being patient for the right thing to come along. In order to journey along our path - we must actually journey: try different things, take some turns (right or wrong), find our way over some obstacles etc. You may or may not have noticed that each blog post is accompanied by a photo of a path. I’ve chosen this for a few reasons, a couple being that our paths come in all different forms and we find ourselves on different terrain all of the time. You’ll notice I’ve never suggested that we all “find ourselves a seat on the bleachers”, or carve out our own spot in a holding room. Navigating your path to wellness means just that. I was recently reminded of something that illustrated this point of patience vs patience with action in an unlikely way.

I had on my bucket list to see the northern lights. For years and years I “hunted” for them around where I lived. Initially it was just something that I thought would be cool to see when camping, but the longer I went without seeing them, the more of an effort I put in to “find” them. I used websites that make the predictions and measure the strength of the lights along with other variables involved in good viewing. I drove around at night when they were “expected” to be good, only to come up empty myself but then see someone else’s amazing pictures on the news the next day. Finally, I resolved that I would have to go further north to see them. I didn’t do much about it, until one day…I did. I rented a van and took it up to the Yukon. While I was there I set alarms a few times a night to get up and check and then finally one night I got to see them! They weren’t all the colours that I’d imagine them to be in my mind, but they were still there, dancing across the sky. I felt mission accomplished and if that was that, then it was a cool experience and no regrets - checked off the list. Then a funny thing happened, in the 18 or so months after I had gotten back from the Yukon, I had the pleasure of seeing them at home in spectacular form (complete with the colours and all) on 3 separate occasions. Coincidence? Perhaps. But I’d like to think the universe was rewarding me for my efforts. There are more logical explanations like the intensity of the solar storms varying year to year and decade to decade, and me just happening to be out at the right time to see them, but it’s just a bit ironic still after years of coming up empty- so I like to think there’s maybe more to it for me than just dumb luck and pure patience. 

As I’ve said many times, while we are “waiting”, we must explore. Good things can definitely come to those who wait, but not those who wait idling. In order for things to come to you, you must reach out an arm and take a few steps towards them. It’s not always perfect and may look a bit like throwing spaghetti on the wall and seeing what sticks, but if your intentions are in the right place, good things can happen and doors may open that you didn’t see before. Your steps may not be in the exact right direction and when you arrive it may not be as amazing as you imagined - but you never know what you’ve opened yourself up for experiencing a little further down the road. So whatever it is you’re looking for, don’t just wait for it to come to you - go searching for it. You may or may not find it, but at least you’ll know you can give yourself an “A” for effort and that’s never wasted time!  As a bonus, whether you realize it or not, your actions may just have set things in motion that will eventually become more clear to you down the road. Let’s just say when you get actively involved, you give the “powers that be” a much greater chance to intervene and show up in amazing ways later in your life! So until next time, happy hunting…