“It is a common saying, and in everybody’s mouth, that life is but a sojourn.”

Plato

The metaphor of life as a journey is an age-old one. It is a helpful concept, in that it relates our lives to experiences of discovery, growth and learning, which are characteristic features of many journeys.

We are sometimes told to ‘follow the right path,’ yet there is no one path. We must each find our own unique direction to move through life, a way that is right for us and us alone.

Attempting to ‘advise’ another to follow one’s own chosen path is an imposition and an intrusion into the other person’s life.

We can only be there to try and facilitate that other person’s journey, if asked and required.

“Security is mostly a superstition. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.”

Helen Keller

The painting above depicts the artist and his wife and baby leaving Britain to emigrate to Australia. In reality, this never happened, but he was tempted to leave because of shortage of money.

The couple are obviously nervous about the change in their lives and the journey they are taking. Their expressions appear anxious and worried.

They hold hands for reassurance. They protect their baby. (Find the baby!) It obviously demands much courage to embark on such a new path in life and it looks like this is certainly a bumpy ride.

“Everyone should have the experience of getting lost in life at least once. Part of growing up is learning how to tolerate uncertainty, and when the time is right, to find or create a new path for yourself.”

Cole Todd

Finding new paths involves coping with uncertainty and venturing into the unknown, but without taking such risks at some points in our life, we would remain static.

“I have not always chosen the safest path. I’ve made my mistakes, plenty of them. I sometimes jump too soon and fail to appreciate the consequences. But I’ve learned something important along the way: I’ve learned to heed the call of my heart. I’ve learned that the safest path is not always the best path and I’ve learned that the voice of fear is not always to be trusted.”

Steve Goodier

Many times, we need to find our own way, to discover our own unique and personal paths through life, bumps and all.

“The path of least resistance is the path of the loser.”
H. G. Wells

“A path is made by walking on it.”
Chuang Tzu

• We All Have Different Paths.

David Hockney – Santa Monica Boulevard [1978]Gandalf’s Gallery. Flickr.

• The Journey Into The Self.

Escher. Hand With Reflecting Sphere.Wikimedia Commons.

“Transformation is a process, and as life happens there are tons of ups and downs. It’s a journey of discovery – there are moments on mountaintops and moments in deep valleys of despair.”
Rick Warren

The quotation above is referring, of course, to a journey into the self.

This is a journey of self-discovery, one in which we will hope to get to know ourselves; it is a journey inwards into authenticity.

As Warren points out, above,  there are times when this journey is full of pain and suffering. To face oneself is no mean feat.

The journey of learning and self-knowledge goes on until we die. We never, actually get ‘there,’ wherever or whatever ‘there’ may be.

Daniel Gordon – Portrait with Shadows and Eyes [2019]Gandalf’s Gallery. Flickr.

“The only journey is the one within.”
Rainer Maria Rilke

Hard though this journey is, it certainly has its rewards. Without the promise of the rewards of enlightenment, clarity, peace of mind and insight, people would not traverse the bumpy roads of self-knowledge, whether these paths take us through study, research, relationships or psychotherapy.

“Get yourself grounded and you can navigate even the stormiest roads in peace.”
Steve Goodier

Albert Savereys – River [1930-37]. Gandalf’s Gallery. Flickr.

• Déjà Vu: The Importance Of Life’s Spirals.

“The path isn’t a straight line; it’s a spiral. You continually come back to things you thought you understood and see deeper truths.”

Barry H. Gillespie

The paths we take through life, whether in terms of therapy, life experience or formal education, are never straight. Inevitably, we will revisit places we have been before, both in reality and symbolically.

Each time we re-experience these places, these ideas, feelings, memories, these facts about life, we learn more, we understand more and we become enriched through the repetition and the new perspectives we gain.

• Perspectives Along The Way.

“Sometimes a change of perspective is all it takes to see the light.”

Dan Brown

Through travelling inwards, we gain new perspectives about ourselves and others. The journey along the road of life gives us different viewpoints, as we move forward into new experiences, new encounters and relationships, new learning.

“Each day, as you get older, there is a new perspective on life. It’s a progression of some sort.”

John Hurt

Majid Arvari – Ray of Light [1999]. Gandalf’s Gallery. Flickr.

“But to look back from the stony plain along the road which led one to that place is not at all the same thing as walking on the road; the perspective to say the very least, changes only with the journey; only when the road has, all abruptly and treacherously, and with an absoluteness that permits no argument, turned or dropped or risen is one able to see all that one could not have seen from any other place.”

James Baldwin