.' It is a movie based on the book 'Way of the Peaceful Warrior
,' recounting the story of an athlete, Dan Millman, who suffers a tragic accident that everyone tells him will prevent him competing again. He meets an unlikely mentor, Socrates, who leads him through a spiritual rebirth and eventually back to performing strength.The mentor, played by Nick Nolte, shares some wonderful insights with the young athlete and there are many life lessons to be learnt from the movie for us individually. It is a movie worth watching several times over because you will not appreciate all the lessons it contains on the one viewing only.
During the movie, Socrates builds up an expectation in the young man about a special place he will take him to, when the lad is ready, where he will see a remarkable thing. Dan wants to head out there and then but much to his annoyance Socrates keeps telling him he is not ready yet. As Dan's attitude changes, the day arrives that Socrates tells him he is finally ready and that in the morning they would set off to see this special thing.
The morning comes and the two set off with Dan full of excitement. They spend the morning enjoying each others' company as they climb a hill together. Finally in the afternoon they reach the summit and Dan looks around expectantly for the special thing he will see. Not seeing anything remarkable, he quizzes Socrates as to what is so special. Socrates looks down on the ground and points to a random, small stone by Dan's foot and declares this to be the special thing.
Dan becomes upset and angry that they have spent the whole day climbing the hill just to look at a stupid stone. As Dan fumes in his anger, suddenly the pebble drops, so to speak, and he realizes what Socrates has been trying to teach him. With the sudden light of awareness he declares "The journey is what brings us happiness not the destination."
Sometimes in our own lives we get so caught up in where we want to get to, that we forget to enjoy the journey we are on and make the most of where we are at.
A sad reminder of this came to me a few months after my wife passed away. We lived in a small three bedroom apartment in the North East of London. I had bought the apartment a couple of years prior to getting married. Maria had never really liked the apartment and especially did not like the area. She very much wanted to move and always looked forward to the time we would. As a result, she was disinclined to do much to improve the apartment. For instance she had a talent for making high quality curtains that she made for others, but would never make them for our place, because to her that somehow equated in giving up on the hope of moving. Unfortunately due to several factors we were unable to move and were still living there when she passed away.
Ironically a few months later the factors preventing the move changed and I prepared to move with the children to the USA. In packing up the apartment, I came across several fine sets of towels that had been given to us as wedding presents eleven years earlier. Maria had not wanted to use the towels and had put them away against the time we would eventually be in a home more suited to her liking. As such she never did get to use the towels.
When I came across the towels, that I had previously forgotten all about, and realized what had happened, I wept knowing not only that Maria had never achieved her goal of a new home but more especially that she had spent much of the last eleven years unable to enjoy and appreciate what we did have. She had set her sights so much on the destination, one that she was never able to reach, that she had been unable to make the most of the present.
Life is very much a journey for each of us. Many of us have an idea of where we hope the destination will be. But none of us can ever guarantee getting to that particular destination, and the one we might hope for, may not turn out to be the one we end up at. But what we all do have is the journey that we are on and the moment that we are in. And it is the journey that we need to make the most of and learn to enjoy.
Learning to find happiness in the journey as opposed to the destination does not mean we have to give up the goal of our destination. Each of us needs goals in our life, things to work towards. But it does mean we need to recognize that what matters most is the moment that we are now in. And as the movie teaches us, "There are no ordinary moments."
Each moment of our lives can be extraordinary, if we allow it to be. But all too often we shut out the things to be gained here and now. Just like on a long road trip when we are anxious for it to be over, we wish away the present, hoping only to quickly arrive where we plan to be. But just like on the road trip where, if only we open our eyes and look, there are new sights and experiences to be seen all along the way, so it is with life.
Remember to find happiness in your journey, and to look for what can be gained from each and every wonderful moment along the way.
Seems no consequence that after Maria passed away you were able to move. No doubt she was doing and is still doing all she can for you and your children. I met a young man once whose father had passed away. He told me that it made him live a better life and that he knew his father could be looking in on him at any time. A little unnerving on a date^_^..lol.
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