Love for the journey

Life - a miraculous journey!

ITHAKA

When you set out for Ithaka

ask that your way be long,

full of adventure, full of instruction.

The Laistrygonians and the Cyclops,

angry Poseidon - do not fear them:

such as these you will never find

as long as your thought is lofty, as long as a rare

emotion touch your spirit and your body.

The Laistrygonians and the Cyclops,

angry Poseidon - you will not meet them

unless you carry them in your soul,

unless your soul raise them up before you.

Ask that your way be long.

At many a Summer dawn to enter

with what gratitude, what joy -

ports seen for the first time;

to stop at Phoenician trading centres,

and to buy good merchandise,

mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,

and sensuous perfumes of every kind,

sensuous perfumes as lavishly as you can;

to visit many Egyptian cities,

to gather stores of knowledge from the learned.

Have Ithaka always in your mind.

Your arrival there is what you are destined for.

But don't in the least hurry the journey.

Better it last for years,

so that when you reach the island you are old,

rich with all you have gained on the way,

not expecting Ithaka to give you wealth.

Ithaka gave you a splendid journey.

Without her you would not have set out.

She hasn't anything else to give you.

And if you find her poor, Ithaka hasn't deceived you.

So wise you have become, of such experience,

that already you'll have understood what these Ithakas mean.

by Constantine P Cavafy

I love that poem.

It says so much about life, how it should be lived, how it can be lived.

And it tells me that there are clues for me on the "how" everywhere,

I just need to pay attention.

It tells me that I am so much more then I appear to be on the outside...

It tells me that everything, everyone else is so much

more then they appear to be on the outside!

It tells me to think lofty!

I like that thought!

It tells me that happiness IS within the Now,

IS within every step of the way.

It tells me NOT to hurry those steps and

not to welcome of the obstacles in front of me.

It tells me that awareness is the only way to do it right.

Only through awareness I can see with my heart.

It tells me that life is endless, that there is no beginning either.

Life is fluent, like the water in the nearby creek.

As we live, we grow.

We grow in knowledge, the only real wealth that can be gained is happiness.

And happiness is whatever we want it to be,

it IS the journey itself...

:))

♥