In past blogs, I have contemplated the destination I am seeking as well as the journey that I am on to reach that goal. I spend a lot of time on the road and actually have the day off as a result of an interruption over which I had no control. My travel plans changed in the blink of an eye.

So today, I find myself thinking about the way I am traveling. Destinations and journeys inevitably involve arrivals and completions. However, life is about traveling…it is not something to step back from and admire when completed. It is always in progress. It is an ongoing process of designing, laying the foundations, forming,erecting, bonding, changing, detailing, refining and renovating. We never get it totally right. It is never perfect.

Life is always under construction.

I am always fascinated by people who think, “I have it made!” They believe that they know it all, and have it all. There is nothing more for them to learn and nothing more for them to earn. They have arrived! Or have they? I see this expressed sometimes by good losers in our organization who look at those still traveling along with disdain and frustration. “If you would just do what I do, you would make it, too,” they imply (and sometimes even say out loud).

Author Denis Waitley reminds us of what is referred to as the “cathedral perspective”. The magnificent cathedrals in Europe often took generations to complete, requiring hindsight from all that went before and foresight of what was to come. Life, like the cathedral, is not so much to be admired for its external appearance and majesty, although these are attractive and noteworthy. Life, like the cathedral, is more meaningful because of what goes on in the sanctity within.

So, today, I am taking time to consider that life is not just a destination or a journey, but a way of traveling. Rather than contemplate my life from the cathedral perspective and worry about external appearance and majesty, I am going to value and appreciate what goes on in the inside. It is important for me always to remember that when working to build a great cathedral, what occurs within its walls must be truly meaningful!

I invite you to appreciate your travels, too.

I Care, Barb