THE ROAD NOT TAKEN
By Bill Barksdale
In 1916 poet Robert Frost published his poem, The Road Not Taken. It begins “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both.” Every day, every moment we make choices. Each choice leads us in a new direction. Each choice leads to another, to create a wandering path sometimes called a life’s journey. Some choices lead one to happiness, some choices not so happy.
How can we know which path to choose in the next moment? Some say to follow your intuition – that feeling of what is right for you. Intuition is different from intellect. What feels right, inside, is often drowned out by the ego’s louder voice of what we decide is the “intelligent choice”. There’s always a road not taken. As Frost says, “And that has made all the difference.”
I’ve asked many people over the years how they ended up in Willits. It’s often surprising how many tell me they don’t really know. That tells me that somehow their intuition had a louder inner voice guiding them. Why, I wonder, do we sometimes follow that hunch? What brings each of us to this place?
In the 1980’s we were looking for a house to buy in San Francisco when houses were still affordable there. I wasn’t a real estate agent then and fortunately we had a bad agent who didn’t give us any advice about financing options. We thought we’d have to pay cash and what we could afford wasn’t what we wanted. On a whim we decided to look in a place we’d never visited, Willits. Within a couple of weeks we’d bought an unfinished cabin on 20 acres – a totally unanticipated life change for both of us. I’ve never regretted that “whim”.
Psychoanalyst, Carl Jung, talked about the spiral as a symbol of change. Jung said “…when you make a spiral you always come over the same point where you have been before, but never really the same, it is above or below, inside, outside, so it means growth”.
Change is ironically the only constant. We’re always changing, always growing. We’re always making the next choice. If you’re unhappy with the path you’re on, you can choose to go in another direction. You can choose to not let fear be your guide, but rather quiet your mind and follow that marvelous gift we each have to follow a hunch. It’s not always comfortable. In the Tarot it’s called the Fool’s journey – stepping into the unknown.
The intuitive path doesn’t always feel logical. It may seem like this isn’t going to make me more money, or open up a promising career path. Yet the intuitive step can lead to a satisfying, unfolding journey. Often, the career path you have in mind is not where you go. It can change. In fact one study suggests that the average person will change careers 5 -7 times in their lifetime.
As technology rapidly changes, old career paths drop away and new opportunities open up. Ironically, some old choices reemerge as viable directions later in life. One definition of an “entrepreneur” is one who identifies a need and finds a way to satisfy it. Yes, you can misstep, but there’s always the next step. You can choose to change direction. You can choose not to listen to the loud voices that you instinctually feel are not saying what’s right for you.
I have a kind of routine. When I get up in the morning I have a large glass of warm water with half-a-lemon squeezed in it while I sit in my comfortable easy chair and write for about half an hour. I just write about anything that pops into my head. I began doing this while reading Julia Cameron’s book It’s Never Too Late to Begin Again, her suggestions for “Creative Souls”. Then I go for a vigorous walk. That’s how I start off pretty much every day. If my hip or back is aching, it’s not when I finish walking. It’s what Thich Nhat Hanh calls “a walking meditation” in his book The Art of Living.
I’m a “security conscious” kind of guy but I’ve taken the Fool’s Journey a number of times in my life. Just stepped off into the unknown. Don’t know where that comes from but I’m grateful for that illogical inner voice. I’ve certainly had an interesting life. Somehow it’s worked out.
“I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.” Robert Frost
Bill Barksdale was a 2016 inductee into the Realtor® Hall of Fame. Coldwell Banker Mendo Realty, CADRE# 01106662, Visit his Blog to read an archive of articles: BBarksdale.com OR BillBarksdaleRealEstateJournal.blogspot.com/
