Well here we are only half way through January and I’m already talking about ‘road blocks”! This doesn’t sound too optimistic I know? But read on and I hope I will put a         positive spin on it and you will come away feeling a little more upbeat…

I am desperately trying to keep up with the 30 day journaling project I signed up for with Lisa Sonora as a great way to kick start the creative year. The prompt I was working on this morning was titled ‘Got resistance’, and was about how water always finds its way around obstacles – an unfortunate quality if your ceiling ever collapses because you hadn’t         discovered that slowly leaking pipe!! Anyway it got me thinking about the small woodland not far from my home where I walk my dogs often. It’s a wonderful space where the dogs can run free and you might not meet another soul even if the car park is full. The woodland is very natural and unmanaged, so after a storm or strong winds you will often discover fallen trees blocking the way of the well worn criss cross of paths and trails. If they are too large to move you just have to go around the obstacle and start a new path. So the landscape of the woods is constantly changing whether we want it to or not and we just adapt if we want to keep going forward.

It dawned on me that this was a great metaphor for life and a good answer to the question ‘Got resistance?’. We are happily going about our business the way we always have, the comfortable and easy way, and then suddenly there is a block in the road and we can’t continue. Something has changed and the road you know is no longer open to you. This could be a real physical block, like the loss of a loved one or a change in financial situation, or it could be a mental shift, a realisation that something is out of alignment and you are not being your authentic self. Whatever the root cause, you have been forced off the path and it’s time to come up with a new plan of action. This could be a strategy to move around the obstacle and reconnect you with your path further along, or it could be time for a radical change in direction and the chance to explore a new avenue you haven’t taken before. It’s scary and uncertain but also exciting and adventurous and full of possibility…

So start this new year by checking your map for areas of your life that have served their purpose and are no longer helping you move forward. When you hit a stumbling block take a fresh approach and see where it leads you. And if you didn’t get it right the first time, don’t be afraid to back track and try again by a different route. There is a world of possibilities out there just waiting to be discovered.

Happy 2015!