I’ve tried many beaten paths and could recommend one or two. Still, the real adventure and growth come from walking off the path.
Flowers don’t grow well on beaten paths; neither do mysteries and heart-felt dreams.
The real secret for deep growth is to walk off the path into the night . . .
~~~
Then, there is The Path.
“Verily, the wayfarer who journeyeth unto God, unto the Crimson Pillar in the snow-white path, will never reach unto his heavenly goal unless he abandoneth all that men possess: ‘And if he feareth not God, God will make him to fear all things; whereas all things fear him who feareth God.'”
Bahá’u’lláh, The Four Valleys, p. 58
Seems we’re given great Gifts when we submit to God . . .
Our Evolution 
Beautiful photo,reminds me of the park I walk in.
Tonight I was teaching a class at a location I was not familiar with, I took the GPS, rather than mapquesting it, and left an hour ahead of the scheduled time, giving me an extra 35 minutes, should I still manage to get lost or get delayed in traffic..
This was a perfect example of staying on the beaten path way to long when I should have followed my intuition. After taking me on a route that was unnecessary, then taking me to an exit that didn’t exisit any more, then putting me on a toll road that took me way out of the way, then having the GPS fall and go mute, then as I am fumbling while driving I accidently hit the language button and it turned to French, and now I am due to be teaching and 20 minutes away from my destination according to the toll taker… so I took a deep breath, yelled out a few choice words, then dialed the phone.. I managed to finally get someone at the location where I was going, and they directed me in by phone. Whew!
I hit my hand against my head and thought, how many more experiences will I need to have this week before I truely get it? Each error tonight was a result of resisting the little voice in the backroom that knew, while putting more faith in something outside of myself (GPS)…this has been happening non stop this past week…thank you for the reminder…”just step off the path into the night”…
Actually now that I think about it a bit more, even the GPS was giving me the answer by the way it was reacting. No coincidences.
Wonderfully apt comment !
So many poor folk are in spaces like you relate and never even imagine there’s another way…
~ Alex