The Wanderer’s Wife – Moving Forward – The next step and a little bit of philosophy about life….

There is a saying about life – you must keep moving forward. During times when I have experienced hardship, loss or trauma, I have always kept moved forward. I don’t believe that you ever move “on” from hardship, loss or trauma but, we keep propelling forward because that is the only way. One of my strategies when I had a particularly traumatic time, was to walk. The movement, every day, kept me moving forward – both literally and figuratively. Great love and great suffering fan our soul (Richard Rohr – Falling Upward). When you keep stepping forward, you get a glimpse of a better path – the light at the end of the tunnel (from This is How You Heal by Brianna Weist).

If you stop doing these things…it will be easier to move forward…. (from This is How You Heal)
1. Stop waiting for perfect circumstances. Create them instead.
2. Stop confusing your maximum output with your maximum potential. Create a life that is peaceful and
meaningful. Do less, but better.
3. Stop spending your peak hours on things you don’t care about or the mundane tasks – set aside time
when you are clear and energized to think, problem solve, create. Do the things that drain you
later.
4. Stop only seeing your life through other people’s eyes. Exist in authentic alignment to who you are.
5. Stop believing that timing is everything. Eventually, you have to decide what matters to you, and then
you have to commit to staying the course, no matter how the tides turn.
6. Stop changing course so often. Be honest with yourself – do you really need to change or are you just
afraid to move forward?
7. Stop thinking that you are so out of the ordinary. You are special but, you are not alone.
8. Stop thinking short-term. Instant gratification is alluring, but not helpful. What is the next best step
that you will thank yourself for later? Stop treading water.
9. Stop assuming you always know best. Let life surprise you. Let experts help you.
10. Stop underestimating the power of inner work. Are you willing to change your mind? Commit to
becoming better. Expand your heart past its current perimeters. There is so much waiting for
you if you are open to it.
11. Stop playing down your dreams. Fortune favours the brave and the bold. Have a strong vision and
be ambitious.
12. Stop avoiding your discomfort. Discomfort signals that a shift needs to be made.
13. Stop thinking that the worst possible outcome is you making a wrong choice. A misstep isn’t the
worst thing that can happen. Refusing to move forward is.

So, I move forward, every day becoming better than I was the day before. Trying new things, knowing that others walk along beside me. Fixing and changing course, continue the search for my authentic self and committing to staying on the course of my vision and purpose for my life – no matter what. Creating my life and not wasting a moment.

I love creating through quilting – it definitely is NOT instant gratification. I have spent years creating a certain quilt from start to finish – months on others. I am loving seeing the beauty and randomness of The Wanderer’s Wife come together. I am going to machine-quilt hexagon patterns onto the quilt but, I am moving forward and I will soon be done.

Written by Pam