Up A Creek Without a Paddle

Sometimes the smallest steps take us further than we ever imagine it possible to go in a few well made strides. And the big deal about that you ask? Well, there’s none really except that understanding how purposeful we can make our lives through simply watching where we place our feet is something I never really thought about until I had the occasion to be looking at my feet for an extended period of time.

Then I remembered how I used to employ the same purposeful steps when walking across broad-faced river stones along the Tuki Tuki River of my childhood. There were no sharp rocks on which to cut your feet or cause discomfort and in the heat of the day, having absorbed the scorching rays one might be seen having reverted to the monkey like behaviour of hopping from one foot to the other. Ooing and aahing and ouching one’s way toward the welcome relief of the cool river.

I’m sure it was a funny sight. It certainly wasn’t an unusual one on a warm summer day. Placing one’s feet carefully is a very intentional action I’ve decided and the merit of it is that it forces us to look at where we are going. So what?

Well, if where you’ve placed your feet has left you up a creek without a paddle you’ll appreciate that not wanting to end up there a second time actually requires forethought. That and the lesson that we tuck under our hearts for the next time we get it into our heads to simply scramble every which way but loose!

Still, the lesson when you learn it has benefits further down the road. Chief among them is that when you go in a direction that was intentional to begin with, the chances are, you’ll end up just about where you always hoped you might. Over the years I’ve learnt that back-tracking can be so frustrating but not half as frustrating as being up a creek without a paddle!