Do you ever hate your life or wish your life could have gone in a different direction?
Take heart. It is never too late to follow your dreams. On the journey of life, as long as you are breathing there is more road to travel. You are the one and only driver of your physical body-vehicle. If, at any point in time, you find yourself driving in a direction you do not wish to go any longer, you can always decide to turn around.
One day, I was sitting near a busy intersection. As I was considering the beauty and the power of free will – the idea that in any given moment we have the power to choose our own direction – right in front of my eyes, a huge eighteen wheeler truck came barreling through the intersection that would have led to the freeway. As soon as the driver noticed he was heading in the wrong direction, going off-course, he immediately applied the brakes and swung into a death-defying U-turn in the face of four lanes of on-coming traffic about a half a block away.
Dozens of fear-based thoughts flash across my mind as I watched the whole body of the truck leaning precariously to one side for several seconds – ideas like ‘that’s illegal’, ‘that’s irresponsible’, ‘he can’t do that’, ‘he’ll never make it’, ‘he might tip over’, ‘he could crash’, ‘what if he doesn’t make it in time and the cars don’t stop’. Then the truck came plopping back down to center, straightened out and headed back to the intersection, toward his goal of the freeway entrance.
That truck driver had made the daring turn fearlessly, with speed and panache, without tipping over, without crashing, without getting hit and without even getting stopped by a cop and getting a hefty moving violation. In fact, he made it look so effortless it seemed like child’s play. It was a pretty awesome U-turn. I don’t condone reckless driving, yet what a great metaphor for free will choice.
Our internal U-turns can be just as radical and awe-inspiring. You have the free will choice to make a U-turn at any time, for any reason if you decide that you are headed off-course. It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks about your choice to make a U-turn. Others may think your U-turn is illegal, impractical, irresponsible, unethical, immoral, unacceptable, dangerous or whatever. Guess what? You are the driver of your own body vehicle. You are the one and only one who gets to decide if you are heading in the direction that is in alignment with the will of your soul. You are free to make a radical U-turn if you find yourself headed off-course at any time – no matter what anybody else thinks. It is, after all, your life.
This means: be willing to cancel the wedding if you realize it is out of alignment for you to marry – even if the dress is made, flowers are ordered, and guests are waiting in the chapel. Be willing to go back to high school or college, even if you decided years ago you’d never complete your degree, if that is what your soul is urging you to do at this time. Be willing to quit that ho-hum job even if everyone says you’d be nuts to leave it. Be willing to end a relationship or get a divorce if you are miserable or living out of alignment, even if you decided years ago to stay married forever. Be willing to say ‘no’ to something if your intuition or feeling barometer tells you ‘off-course’, even if an expert says you should say ‘yes’. Be willing to change your major in your final year of college. Be willing to make an unpopular choice, to break the laws of politeness, to flip the bird to conformity, to drop the family expectations and to say ‘no’ to fear. Most of all, be willing to change your mind about something if your current choice is clearly not serving you.
Don’t end up one of those people who are totally lifeless, stuck in a rut because they think it’s not Ok to change their mind about the course they decided upon decades ago when they were totally unconscious. Remember, just like a houseplant, you are either growing or dying. When it comes to following the will of your soul, I highly recommend shouting ‘yes’ at the top of your lungs and deciding to follow your soul’s course – whatever that may be – even if it means making a drastic turn, even a radically drastic, death-defying U-turn toward freedom. Say, “I am the driver of my own life, and it is Ok for me to change direction.”