The Same Only Different

I went for a hike with my family just a few days ago and taught myself a lesson!

It's amazing what happens in a brain when you start thinking.

I love to see things in nature and learn a "natural" lesson or learn something about life that has always been there, you just have to see it differently.

Would you believe that these two paths are the exact same? 

I could hardly believe it when I came back down the trail. I remember the stairs on my way up the hike...but when I came to this path on the way back down, I said out loud to my  Lover, "I don't remember this part of the trail". He said "it's the stairs that we went up." I didn't believe him until we got to the bottom of the rock path and I looked back up the trail and sure enough confirmed that it was the same.

It kind of surprised me that I didn't see it from the top.

But, I didn't!

I had to stop and take a photo of the paths that were the same...only different, depending on how you saw it!

 

I instantly started thinking about the past few months and the different conversations that I have had with different people in my life. Women that I long to be like, woman that I strive to be like, woman that enrich my life, woman that are working to get right with life, woman that encompass such passion for life, woman that are all about strength, woman that are working to get out of a hole, woman that are cruising along in life & woman that just are trying to keep their head above water.

I had a conversation with a great friend of mine. She has just recently had a great loss in her life. We started thinking about pushing ourselves to places that are scary. We talked about the responsibility that comes with going there,  and how things are scary when you know you have to go to those places within yourself, but just don't know how you can get there.

We discussed the possibility of failure when we start a task and how scary that can be. And so we avoid starting, so we don't fail. but in the same breath we talked about how that's not where we want to be in our lives right now...yet it's so scary. We don't want to fail...but how can we fail if we don't try?
How could we find the strength within us to push past the "not wanting to fail" point and just do it?
How can we sort through different thoughts in our minds/lives/Spirit?
Where do we put them?
Is it to much to deal with?
Could we do it?
Our lives, at this current junction are very different. She is mourning a loss of a family member and I am mourning my losses or changes that are small in comparison but...seem to effect me.
We talked about different ways we can sort though things in our minds and lives and what seems to work for us individually. Each having different things to sort through.
Is it: Writing, Reading, Praying, Running, Drawing, Pondering, Meditating, talking, sleeping?

I have thought about this conversation and how we are so different and then in the end when you look at things from a different angle, we are very much the same.

Don't get me wrong...I am NOT in ANY way comparing our lives and our struggles and trying to make light of her situation. I am just saying...we are a both daughters of a loving Father in Heaven that wants us to make our lives brighter and lighter. And I believe HE is cheering for us to figure this life out so we can return to loved ones.

I think about another friend of mine that has gone through life changing experiences over the past 2 years. She has taught me so much about living life to it's fullest, loving your family beyond and just being content and excepting of ME. I have learned from her that some things just DON"T matter.
Really the saying "don't sweat the small stuff" is a lesson I am learning from her.
I have learned that even with her challenges we are the same.
We have so much in common when it comes to striving to be closer to the Spirit. We might be in our different elements and parts of life and we look different...but we're the same.
She is such a wonderful example to me on listening to the Spirit and just being willing to hear promptings that will guide her through out the day. That's what I strive for....therefore we are the same. Two women trying to do and be better within ourselves.

So many different conversation with so many different woman over the past few months that have overloaded my brain. I get overwhelmed with the information that I feel like I need to learn. I feel like the Lord is putting me in different places to learn something so important.
One thing I am seeing that is similar with all these friendships and relationships and encounters is that we are all living this life that we sometimes feel we are all alone and nobody could possibly understand what we are feeling. BUT...when we are honest with those we trust and love...we can start to see that we are so much a like.

I love that.
So, my goal this year is to see things differently. Step back and try to see the similarities that are there between me and another person.
Try to be more transparent in my life.

Let people know I love them, appreciate them and that we are never alone.