Welcome
Welcome to Signs of Your Guide, the first course in Pathway Start. So glad you’ve joined us.
When I was a little gaffer, in grades 1-3, I lived right across from the school I was attending. And there was a great playground beside the school. It had monkey bars, swings, slides, teeter-totters, and merry-go-rounds, I could even go there after school!
I loved all the rides, but probably the merry-go-round the best. One day two or three of my friends were on the merry-go-round and we were taking turns pushing so that we each could enjoy the ride. We used to grab the bar and hang out over the edge as far as we could. It was great. What I mean is, it was great at that speed.
Then along came a couple teenage guys who were much stronger than we were and they took turns spinning the merry-go-round ‘til we reached speeds that we were not used to. At some point during the ride, as the speeds continued to increase, I wanted off. I had enough. We were yelling at them to stop spinning us, but the faster we went, the louder we yelled, the more intent the teenagers were on making us go faster. I remember thinking to myself, “I’m gonna die here, I know it.” The only way off was to let go and get flung into the grass and gravel. So I did. It hurt. I was sick and so were my friends.
Some of us feel that way today. We’re tired. We feel sick and we want off the cultural merry-go-round. We’re tired of playing “keep up with the Jones’s”. Tired of straining to jam more and more under one mortgage. Tired of trading this fad for the next one; yes! But, it’s new and improved fad, we’re told. And for some of us, life has over-promised and under- delivered. There’s an elephant on our air hose and we’re emotionally hypoxic. Time to throw a pipe into the sprockets. Merry-go-round
Signs of Your Guide is all about pulling over for a moment; it’s all about reflection. When my wife and I have driven from Calgary, AB to Vancouver, BC, we’ve had to go through the Rocky Mountains. The great thing about the highway we travel is that as you go through the Rockies, you’re offered the opportunity to pull over and take a break for a moment at the rest stops that they’ve made for travellers. What’s cool about these stops is the vantage points, the views you get. Gives you a whole new perspective on your 12 hour journey.
That’s what Signs of Your Guide is all about. Pulling over, taking a break. Breathing. It’s about getting fresh air. A good deal of people these days are struggling with a variety of challenges, frustrations, worries and anxieties over things past, present and things future. Finding new space to do life. Recalibrating in light of re-envisioning our lives; seeing new trajectories. Though it will not be easy – nothing of value ever is – it is worth it. It’s time to leave the playground and begin a new journey.
Come join us!
In this course, we will pause for a moment to look briefly at many things we struggle with and the challenges we face living in today’s world. But, perhaps from a new perspective. Perhaps, there is a way to view the disappointments, discouragements, and anxieties of life – not as something to run away from – but, perhaps as clues to the meaning of the universe and our lives within it. Perhaps they are signs of our Guide’s presence, not his absence. The only real question, then, is, “Will we sit long enough to follow up on these clues, on these signs?