"Holiday 'What If' Wishes For You All Dear Friends..."

"What if our spiritual beliefs were for each other. If our practice was our life. If our prayer or mantras were our potent words. What if our temple was the earth. If the forests were our church. If holy water was our lakes, rivers, and oceans. What if our meditations were upon our relationships. If the teacher was life. If true wisdom was from self-knowledge. If love was the very center of our being...".  G. White

There is so much adventure potential in keeping our perceptions as open minded as the terrain we cross. There is as much potential too in developing sustained ways to ponder about the possibilities out there. Adventurers are no different it seems in how we may limit ourselves to only certain trails, routes, or experiences, by how we see things and frame things in our minds. I've written here before about my Outward Bound experiences and how they revealed to us there is so much more within us than we may ever first realize...
Often that Outward Bound catalyst came from within the experiences themselves, yet just as many times from the quiet words of wisdom our Leaders shared with us each time out. One adventure concept of theirs was the "What If's", and is one that resonated with me back then and still echoes out strongly to this very day. "What If", they quietly asked at the end of our climbs and trails, then later at the end of our course, what if instead of this being an ending, you are really just getting going... What if, rather than this experience being over, this is really only a beginning for you... 
What if too, they asked, that any setbacks are really steps in the direction of fulfilling your adventure dreams. What if, they inquired, that the hard earned lessons, the trials and adversity - are all really part of what we are seeking anyway. What if, they pondered, that regardless of weather, injury, age, or infirmity, we are just starting out upon other ways of wandering further, farther, higher, and even more inward...
Such was the trail of perception that was revealed way back then to me, and still is as well after so many years of journeys out there. All along the way, time and time again, their subtle reminder would echo once more about possibility and potential, and about the potency and power of 'What If's'..... DSD