A Mark Twain quote inspired today’s Sunday Short. This American writer, humorist and entrepreneur definitely had a way with words. He understood what captured the human heart.
His words that so captured mine this week were these:
”Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
This speaks to me on so many levels. I already realize that it is more important to me to not have regrets and be disappointed than to stay comfortable, stay safe. Twenty years ago, I was just beginning to understand this.
I was at the place in my journey where I was ready to “throw off the bowlines”. Doing so required inner work that took years. Making the decision to face fears, embrace who I really was and find my voice was what finally allowed me to slip free from the knot that bound me.
Standing on the bow of my ship named LIFE, and looking ahead twenty years, I do not want to arrive there and wish that I had been braver, done more, followed my heart.
That’s not happening.
I know what I want, I know where I am headed, and I am learning how to get there. The Divine is my ship captain, trust and curiosity, creativity and desire are my traveling companions. I am leaning into the moment and I am compelled to continue on the journey because I want to see where the flow takes me.
There is safety in the harbor, safety from storms, from shipwreck, from countless perils. However, my eyes are on that distant horizon where the light meets the sea.
As I read Twain’s words again this afternoon, the song from the Disney film, Moana, came to mind. I have the song saved on my iPhone. It is on my playlist of inspirational songs. When I listen to How Far I’ll Go my heart beats faster and my eyes fill with tears, every…single…time. Why? Because it deeply stirs the desire in my heart.
‘Long as I can remember, never really knowing why.
I wish I could be the perfect daughter
But I come back to the water, no matter how hard I try.
Every turn I take, every trail I track
Every path I make, every road leads back
To the place I know, where I can not go, where I long to be.
And no one knows, how far it goes.
If the wind in my sail on the sea stays behind me,
One day I’ll know. If I go there’s just no telling how far I’ll go.
