Wednesday, May 20
Earlier this week, a reader ended her comment with the phrase “as we all travel this unknown path together.” An unknown path…immediately all kinds of images came to my mind. I thought of the many hikes I have taken through the Adirondacks, along the coast of Maine, and on the Pacific Coast. When I think of an unknown path, all my senses are heightened. There is a tinge of anxiety that arises. Where is the path going? How long will it take to hike the trail? What’s up ahead? What do I need to bring?
But an unknown path also brings the promise of adventure. It holds the possibility of discovering a new pond or a mountain trail. I might happen upon a path through a meadow or hike along a creek bed. I could spot an unusual bird or climb up to a vista where the view extends for miles around me. Perhaps I’ll eat my lunch sitting atop a large sunny boulder in a river or peacefully in the shade of an ancient tree.
And there’s more! I wonder who will be with me? Am I going alone? Or is a friend hiking with me? A curious child with her own little backpack? Or perhaps an enthusiastic dog will lead my way?
An unknown path…such a great description for a winding journey through the ups and downs of pandemic time. Like Alice in Wonderland falling down the hole, we have found ourselves suddenly in a new and different world. We don’t yet know the way out, leaving us with nothing to do but head out on the path and try to make sense of all the new information around us.
I know that how I make sense of it, whatever meaning I choose to assign to it will, over time, become a part of who I am. Henry David Thoreau wrote: “As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.”
One summer, my family was driving through the backroads of Colorado. Our two-lane highway abruptly changed into a rugged and bumpy dirt road. Posted next to the road was an old sign which read: Choose your rut wisely, you’ll be in it for the next 40 miles.
How we think about things eventually forms a rut, or in more scientific terms, a neural pathway through our brains. We reinforce our thinking until it becomes a part of the way we see the world. As I choose to be on this unknown path, I also want to choose to dwell on all that is good and true and lovely about it. I want my thoughts to be positive and connected to my Creator. The experiences I have and the thoughts I have will make a difference as to how I feel and consequently, how I act. So I choose to be open, to listen, to learn, and to head out on this journey with an amazing community of people. And as I go, I will ask God to help me do that by setting my course each morning and trusting that I will be led.
22 Comments
Mary Alice Moore
Rev. Mary you have a special way of leading us on a very positive path. It is the unknowns on my path that sometimes lead to a rut. Thank you.
Mary Ramerman Author
Mary Alice,
I look forward to your insights that you share. Thank you for being with us.
Love, Mary
Barbara Branzovich
The Abbey of the Genesee, produced a prayer card called, “A Thought For Today.” Recent reflection references to an unknown path lead me to share a line or two from it with you.
“What I do today is important because I’m exchanging a day of my life for it. When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever, leaving in its place something I have traded for it.”
The card highlights choices we can make–like where to concentrate our daily “dwellings.” Thank you, Mary, for today’s reminders and the beautiful images you paint.
Mary Ramerman Author
Dear Barbara,
That’s a great question for the end of my day…what did I trade my day for? Thank you.
Love, Mary
Brian O'Neill
Dear Mary, Thank you for this reminder to choose positive thoughts. One of they ways I am able to do this is to focus on gratitude. It helps to write a gratitude list so that the many gifts I have become unavoidable and more real. If I can live in a state of gratitude the unknown paths are not as daunting because I feel connected to myself, others, and the endless supply of bounty in the universe.
Mary Ramerman Author
Brian, I had forgotten about gratitude lists…thank you for reminding me of a daily practice that makes a big difference in how I feel about my life.
Love, Mary
Sarah
I can attest to the ability to “change one’s own mind” by thinking things over and over even if you don’t believe it at first. Gratitude works like that…if I focus on being grateful for a minute each day, over time I become more grateful in every moment. It’s weird how we can trick our minds into being healthier for us…of course, we can also stick ourselves in unhealthy thinking. Now I just need to get in the “rut” of telling myself to be grateful on this unknown path (LOL). Thanks for reminding me of this Mary! I will get out my gratitude journal. I also really like the quote Barbara Branzovich included from the Abbey of the Genesee. It helps me focus on the importance of each day.
Mary Ramerman Author
One minute a day can lead to being more grateful in every moment – thank you for sharing that, Sarah.
Love, Mary
Judene
Beautiful. If this is the kind of spiritual nourishment I get every morning in May…I want more May mornings. 😉
Mary Ramerman Author
Smile.
Love, Mary
Linda Armstrong
To me each day is like a new journey or a new hike somewhere. What you choose to feel, or the gratitude with which you make that hike is what attaches you life to that of the maker. At least that is my opinion. You know I love you and yours, Linda
Mary Ramerman Author
Dear LInda,
Every day is like a new hike! That’s a great positive attitude to start the morning with – I love it!
Thank you for reading today’s meditation and for sharing your thoughts…I value your opinions highly.
Lots of love,
Mary
Colleen Fox-Salah
Beautiful, Rev. Mary. I have started a new practice that dovetails with what your message of being mindful of your thoughts because neural pathways are being formed. When I think of what may be lost as a result of this pandemic, I then try to imagine how it can manifest in a new, perhaps even better form. I try to include myself in this vision, how can help usher in this new manifestation?
I mentioned that I have been mourning libraries. The need they fill is not going away. Information provided to everyone without consideration of economic status is fundamental to who we are. How it’s offered will certainly change form (it has actually been in the process of changing form for some time), and in this lies not so much loss, but a challenge to remain optimistic and willing to charter new, but still familiar territory.
Mary Ramerman Author
Dear Colleen,
Thank you for raising my awareness about libraries. I enjoy taking my grandchildren there, but I hadn’t considered what I would feel if they were gone. I will hope for a new form that is better than before.
Love, Mary
richardkaza33
namaste rev mary
thanks so much for your openness that allows such holy words to come through you
on your past few writings—
I was sad one day and went for a walk
I sat in a field
a rabbit noticed my condition and came near
it often does not take more than that to help at times
to just be close to creatures who
are so full of knowing
so full of love
that they don’t
chat
they just gaze with
their marvelous understanding
——saint john of the cross
Mary Ramerman Author
namaste Richard, it made me smile to see your name today! thank you for this writing from saint john of the cross. I had never read that before — it touched my heart with its truth.
love, Mary
Diane Seebach
“Choose your rut wisely, you’ll be in it for the next 40 miles.” So much of where life takes us comes down to the choices we make, doesn’t it. Love the meditation today “An unknown path,” as well as the passage from the Phillipians. I must remember that one. Thank you for leaving us with beautiful thoughts for the day.
Love, Diane
Annie O’Reilly
Thank you, Rev. Mary. How a soothing short meditation with your voice fills me with peace. Mike doesn’t usually meditate with me but since he is fixing drawers right now in the kitchen he is also captive. He remarked how soothing and reassuring your voice is! Yes, reassuring. How important that is in this time that challenges our conventions.
Bridget
That was beautiful it helped me remember a time following a babbling brook never finding the end but enjoying the sound of the water and laughing at Marena dropping stones into it as we walked. Thank you
John Connors
I am delighted to have found your blog this evening as i wind down a busy day of trying to guide the many thoughts in my own mind and that of my patients today. I loved the Thoreau quote and your own references to the important cognitive and behavioral self care that can make such a difference in how we can perceive, feel and experience Gods presence in the course of a day.
Thank you for being a spiritual CBT therapist! And I cant help but just embrace the awesome potential in our combined Neural networks! Halleluia!
Anne
Your reflection on the unknown path gave me much to take into my heart as this quarantine continues and opens up. Who travels with me? My spirit guide surely. My loved ones who’ve gone before are surely not leaving me alone. Still it can be frightening if I let my mind fall into that rut. A balancing act at times to stay out of that rut. Nice to know I can choose a rut of faith and truth instead of fear holding the hand of Jesus as I go .
Thank you so much for your reflection
Karen Keenan
Dear Mary, what a treasure these meditations are. I started listening to them a week or so ago ( yes, it took me halfway through the month to quiet enough to remember they are right here!). I find the words and your voice really help me to settle in and drop down into my heart where I can connect with peace and comfort and hope and strength. All have been such good reminders of that constant presence of God’s loving support that our breath and heart can lead us to. I find that I am waking up eagerly now, anticipating this daily sustenance. I am so grateful to you and Brian. Love, Karen
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