“The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is now.” — Chinese proverb
I came upon this quote in a book I was reading recently. The book is about ecology and emphasizes the importance of protecting forests because they are integral to the health of our earth and its atmosphere, and to the wellness of human beings and many other creatures. When I read the quote, I thought about how it pertains to many other aspects of our lives as well.
We often hear or read about the importance of setting goals and then working toward reaching those goals. Having goals can be a source of hope and working toward them can add to our sense of purpose. And yet it’s fairly common for us to have ideas of what we would like to accomplish but then to put off taking the steps required to make those ideas a reality. It takes self-discipline and there are many distractions in our modern world that readily give us excuses to put off taking those steps. In order to make progress, we need to embrace the idea that the “second best time is now” so that we will begin doing that which ideally we should have started doing already.
It’s essential to distinguish between direction given to us by our inner voice and goals that are only ego-based. Inner direction comes to us through dreams, synchronicities, intuition, and unexpected life experiences, all of which are phenomena that we do not cause to happen but that instead happen to us.
The fact that the promptings we receive in these ways are to help us live more genuine lives and to use the abilities and blessings we’ve been given does not mean trying to follow inner direction is easy. And yet when we endeavor to make changes in order to live in ways that we’ve done our best to discern are from our inner voice, there is a sense of “this is what matters, this is what I’m called to do.” And we are given help from the universe to have the courage, creativity, energy, and perseverance that we need in order to move forward along our path.
Trying to hear our inner voice, to discern its messages, and to follow the direction we’re given—direction that is unique to each of us—is essential to our emotional and spiritual well-being.