In our goal oriented culture, we so often set our sights on some thing: a job, a home, a partner. We do the necessary footwork and we can often accomplish what we have set our sights on.

But then what happens when we allow our target to be a state of being? No tangible thing, with no definitive sign posts. Simply a vision of embodying a feeling or way of walking in the world?

When framed in this way, I recognize that this has been my path for the past three years. I’ve tried to attach signposts and goals to this path, but nothing has felt as aligned as envisioning myself as simply living in alignment with my truth, with my soul purpose, even though I don’t have a great deal of clarity as to what that is. But I’ve been following bread crumbs. Trusting the feelings and the synchronicities along the way. And in truth, I’ve never felt more serene or joyful as a steady state than I have felt this past year plus.

My ego has had big visions and plans for me in my life. The businesses, the cars, the homes, the partners. I set out to manifest those things and have brought them into my life. I can, you can, we can attract what we feel will make us happy, if that is our desire. Using the Law of Attraction we can create what we wish to manifest.

But what happens when we open our hands and let go of our grand plans and say show me?

Future tripping from this vantage point can be scary as hell. But if we can manage to bring all of our focus to the stepping stone we’re on, instead of the one way over there that we can’t even really see, life can become much more manageable.

Far too often I find myself creating so much chaos so that it’s impossible to see or even feel the solidity of the stone I’m standing on. I shake it up. Stir it up. Creating swirl and drama and chaos which can feel so much more familiar than actually being still in the moment.

I come back again and again asking why it feels so challenging to be right here. Right now. Without distraction. To breathe. To feel my body. To experience my environment in this very moment. All of the textures and the colors and the shapes.

I have so seldom given myself the gift of this kind of presence. As a result I’ve missed so much of my life. I’ve been running. And running. From myself. From truth. From being.

In this moment, when we’re finally ready to accept this gift of presence, can we begin to forgive ourselves for what we’ve denied ourselves without getting stuck in regret, in the past? Out of the present moment, once again?

It sounds so reductive to say that all of my life has been about bringing me here, now, to this very moment. And, as I slow way down, I begin to truly see that this is all that there is.

All of the running. All of the stirring. All of the reaching. All of the yearning. These states of being have been about both avoidance and searching for this place. Right here. Right now.

It’s about trust. It’s about breathing. And receiving. And faith. It’s about the knowing that there is a reason and a purpose for all of this. And when we stop fighting and kicking up the muck, the muddy water can settle. The water can clear. We can see ahead and behind and all around. And at the same time know that none of it matters. Except this very here and now. With immense gratitude, we can acknowledge that we have, in fact, arrived.