One of my very favorite poems is this translation* of an Antonio Machado poem:
XXIX
by Antonio Machado (translation by David Whyte)
Pathmaker, the path is your tracks,
nothing else.
Pathmaker, there in no path,
The path is made by walking.
And turning the gaze back,
Look on the trail that never will be
Walked again.
Pathmaker, there no path,
Only the wake on the sea.
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People who have worked with me over time have heard me refer to this poem countless times in different teaching contexts over the years & yesterday it came to me again at the end of a public call I offered called “The F*cks You DO Give”.
This poem wasn’t part of my call plan – I had other poems & quotes – but as I came to the completion & was feeling into what I wanted to leave the participants with, what I most wanted was for them to really get the power that comes from taking the first step – without knowing what the step after that will be.
I have been asked so often over the years – by clients, friends, podcasters – something to the effect of: How did you discover your purpose?
For a long time this question baffled me. Discover my purpose? I wasn’t even sure if I knew what my purpose was now, let alone having discovered it sometime in the past! I was simply following an intuitive sense of what felt right & taking steps that aligned with that sense – over & over (and over…).
Then one day it dawned on me: this act of taking the most deeply aligned action (even in small ways) over & over, without knowing where it would lead me had created a path that I (and others) could look back at & see as a clear purpose.
And what I thought was perhaps just me fumbling in the dark was actually revolutionary: to courageously take each step, without knowing what the next step would be after that.
I’m not saying I didn’t encounter challenges along the way, and certainly not every action I took panned out the way I wanted! In fact that’s part of what makes this way of approaching life & plans & visioning work: there’s less disruption when things do go as planned, because it’s always about the very next step. Being responsive to what is the next right action now & now & now & when this happens & when this doesn’t happen & again now, and….so on.
I’ve seen so many people over the years get frozen in not taking any action – not because they don’t know the very first step, but because they’re not sure about the step that comes after that. The obsession with knowing the effect of each step and the fear of taking one step without knowing steps 2 & 3 keeps people from taking any steps at all – sometimes for years.
I am here to tell you that cultivating this responsiveness is how to create a life of purpose – one step at a time.
This is how I created my Return to Source retreat that’s now been running for 10 years.
This is how I bought land.
This is how I run my business.
This is how I’ve been able to take 3 separate weeks off this summer.
This is how I have such a good relationship with my son’s father.
Not because I knew how to do what I was doing. Not because I knew the plan ahead of time. Not because I wasn’t afraid. Not because everything always worked out the way I wanted.
Because I kept listening for the next right action.
Because I stayed responsive.
Because I never stopped taking steps – even when I was afraid, or I had no idea how things would work out.
