I have a silent partner.  She’s my dog.  She stands by me whatever business decision I make, but one decision she makes for both of us on the days I’m in the home office is to get outside.  I’ve just completed a seminar delivery on Time Management, or what I title “Effectiveness Beyond Time”, and so as we hit the bush trail today, I had been asking myself one question that I prompt my students to ask about how they’re spending their time.  “Is this the best possible use of my time at this particular minute?”.

I struggle with my answer, considering many to-do’s and my quest for good balance.  Just looking at my silent partner running ahead with a wagging tail, I new I was on the right path.  But things were different today.  It’s almost spring here in North Bay, and the snow is crusty, so for the first time, I could walk anywhere with my snow shoes, without sinking in snow.  The possibilities were endless.  I could go this way or that way, or anyway at all, and so there in lies my teaching for today, direct from Mother Nature through me, to you.

How many times do we follow the same path, the path we’ve decided was good a while back, the path that others create for us, or the path that tradition sets in our patterning early in life?    Sometimes, the conditions are perfect for venturing off the ‘normal’ or ‘usual’ path to find new territory, to discover new potential, or just to experience that we have a world of opportunity just waiting for us to show up.

For me, this nature walk off trail taught me that each day is a new day, with new conditions, to see and feel and know what there is for me to see, feel and know on that given day.  The world is a playground just waiting to be discovered, and today, with no leaves or foliage in the forest yet, and the ability to walk anywhere, I could explore things I’ve been passing by for months and really get a different perspective of them.

The conditions are perfect for exploring, but you have to get off the normal path to find out what else is possible.

How is walking the same path everyday limiting you?

What conditions would you need to lead yourself to at least explore new possibilities?