SEEKING UNLIMITED HORIZONS

When you think about “new horizons,” where does your mind wander? Far too many individuals think about tomorrow as being their “distant future,” with far too much reliance upon “what is” than faith in “what could be.” People tend to predict their next steps based upon those they just completed rather than seeking destinations not yet considered. When we react and respond with measured predictability we will rarely find ourselves surprised by where we have wandered nor unfamiliar with where we have gone. When we travel upon familiar roads, we rarely arrive at unexpected destinations – regardless of the good intentions that may have guided our journey.

Speaking of travel, when we travel with others, we tend to rely upon the comfort they provide – the sense of acceptance that comes from walking beside those we know and that know us. When those that we love travel with us, however, there is often no one to go home to when our travels end – nobody to hear of our adventures or feel the passion of our words as we retell our stories. We may share new horizons with others as we travel with them but far too often slip back into our regular routine if we do not recount our discoveries with those we return to – those that welcome us home.

When our horizons are but projections of our experiences we tend to live where we are rather than where we could be. We look behind us intently to avoid returning to where we were BUT fail to look ahead to see where we might be able to go. We tend to find comfort in where we are when we feel we “have arrived” after tasting success – see it as “an end” or a reward for our efforts – rather than viewing it as a new beginning from which we might start a new adventure.

Our horizons can be limitless ONLY when we look beyond our present circumstances to opportunities that may not yet have materialized – when we open our eyes to see what we might be able to accomplish rather than basking in our past glories. There are rarely guideposts along the way to tell us we are moving in the right direction when we enter uncharted waters – only the faith we have in our instincts and the hope we hold that any forward progress is better than standing still. Think beyond tomorrow in whatever you say and do – for tomorrow is but one day removed from yesterday and living within the comfort of our past will do nothing but shelter us from the successes our new horizons can hold.