Enjoy the Journey
Our focus this week — July 9–15: “Goals, Hopes, and Dreams”
Today’s MotD: Enjoy the Journey. Whatever our goals, hopes, and dreams (GHD), we are encouraged to enjoy the journey it takes to make them happen. Quite often we tell ourselves we’ll be happy when we’ve achieved our GHD. So does that mean for the rest of the time we should be miserable ? I don’t THINK so!
Decades ago I spent nine months training for the Los Angeles marathon. At the time I also saw a therapist to help me process and heal from childhood traumas. Two weeks before the marathon I experienced a bad training day. So much so I seriously doubted that I would be able to finish the marathon.
My therapist reminded me that “crossing the finish line only takes a couple of seconds. what are you going to do about the 26.2 miles it takes to get there ?” I hadn’t thought about it like that, I only focused on finishing it not actually running it. She reminded me that in many ways the journey is more important than the finish line.
So I repurposed a visor by attaching Minnie Mouse ears, made a sign for my back that said “after this I’m going to Disneyland”, and bought a disposable camera (this is before cell-phones and digital cameras) so that I could take photos of all the different LA tourist attractions and neighborhoods I’d be running by and through.
Because of doing all that, I remained mindful of the whole journey. People on the sidelines cheered on “Minnie Mouse”, other runners joked with me as they ran past saying “no way you’re going to Disneyland after this”, and I have photos of all the cool places and people I saw along the way.
It took me 5 hours and 40 minutes to run-ish the marathon and 2 seconds to cross the finish line. While it was a great feeling to finish, I have a more enjoyable memory of the journey it took to get there.
How about you ? Are you allowing yourself to enjoy the journey towards achieving your goal(s) ? What mindset would help you enjoy the journey ? What changes can you make that will make the journey more enjoyable ?
BTW…Here’s the before…the front and back view of today’s puzzle piece and the pretty ceramic box that holds all my numbers from which I randomly choose each day’s puzzle piece number:
Peace & Blessings,
Maureen
The Mandala Lady
Creating Mandalas 🔆 Awakening Inner Harmony
ABOUT THE 2025 Mandalas of the Day
Throughout the year, I’ll be building one large (48”x48”) Tibetan-styled Mandala one piece at a time…one puzzle piece at a time, that is. The mandala design and the reversed puzzle side were printed on artist-quality watercolor paper. The forward facing puzzle side was printed on a 48”x48” wood panel.
Each day, at random, I’ll be painting in watercolors one of the 365 watercolor puzzle pieces, that by the end of the year will become Archangel Mandala #4. Read more about the Archangel Series. The word/message for each piece will be inspired by Melody Beattie’s book “52 Weeks of Conscious Contact”.
Ultimately, the message of this mandala is about how we are all uniquely part of the one.
Mandala of the Day 