From Our Member, Lynn deBeauclair

"Space... The final frontier...
These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise.
Its continuing mission:
To explore strange new worlds...
To seek out new life; new civilizations...
To boldly go where no one has gone before!"
--- Jean-Luc Picard, Captain, Starship Enterprise; NCC-1701D
 
Journey - An act of traveling from one place to another.
A long and often difficult process of
personal change and development.

The word "Journey" conjures up every imaginable adventure possible. Vision quests by Native Americans, Shamanic meditations, The Camino de Santiago in Spain, even the Hogwarts' gang on their quest for magical wisdom.
 
I've found out that the journey to a specific place is frequently the best part of a trip. Often, the destination turns out to be totally different than what we expected. Sometimes, the end doesn't even matter. It's what we learned along the way from those we met, be they human, orca, bird or a giant sequoia.
Detours on a journey, whether intentional or not, can be eye-opening. Dropping off a hitchhiker who lives 50 miles out-of-the-way can be a huge synchronicity when you find out he's the son of an old college friend.
 
The movie, Michael, had some hilarious moments when, on a trip from Iowa to Chicago, the Arch Angel insisted on taking detours to see "The Largest Ball of String" and the "Largest Frying Pan." Who knew?
 
"Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence." Henry David Thoreau had it figured out. In his beloved Walden Woods he took many such journeys of the soul and spirit.
 
Books and movies are awesome journeys, an escape into other worlds. Poetry and music, like nature, can clear our minds of depression and sadness.
 
Confucius had a deep wisdom with regard to journeys: "It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop." "Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart."
 
Deep in my soul I'm a Taoist and resonate with Lao-tzu's "A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step." I used to think, in my twenties, that this meant taking the first step out of St. Louis, in the 19th century with your covered wagon, headed out west into the Great Unknown.
 
As decades passed, I came to see it was also relevant when beginning a new diet, exercise program or simple walk around the block. Even starting a painting, novel or article for the U.U.C.G.V. newsletter meant putting paint on a canvas or the first sentence on your computer (or hand-written note pad).
 
If that first step on any journey, spiritual or physical, is not taken you may never discover what wonders await. YOU have to start the journey. Hopefully, inertia and a sense of purpose, whimsy or desperation will keep you moving along the path. 
 
As I've aged, "inner journeys" have become much more important to how I live: meditation, past-life regression and connecting with The Source of All. For it is from within that we most often find answers to the cosmic questions that haunt our dreams. A journey of any type that seeks to help us reveal our place in the Universe is truly a worthwhile endeavor. Happy travels!
 
~Lynn deBeauclair