There is No Finish Line

Posted on by Sandi Amorim 23 Conversations

 

“There is no finish line. There is no prize. There is no path, no schedule, no time line. There is no right direction, right choice, right way. All of that would imply there was something out there that is not here now. It would imply that there is something you could be that you are not now. You are the energy you are looking for. Right here. Right now.” – Jeddah Mali

These words by Jedda Mali have been on my mind lately. They speak to me of truth, and the duality of life.

No Finish Line

There is no finish line. No prize. No right way.

The little voice in my head hollers, “What’s the point then?” 

You see, I like getting to the end, reaching out for the prize, and feeling the satisfaction of completion.

I’ve learned that life doesn’t always deliver the prize the way we want it. When we don’t get what we want the ability to respond creates the future, while reaction takes us back to the past.

There is no finish line and there is no shortcut, but you’ll always come to know yourself better, and that in itself is a prize worth the angst.

No Right Way

How do you know which way to go if there’s no right way? What tells you you’re making the right choice?

All you can do is follow your heart, and if you listen it will show you the way. Some days it’s not that easy, the head is so good at distracting us with its obsessive need to control and understand.

Too often, the head wins out, and leads us down the path of survival.

The compulsion to understand is a powerful motivator, but when it gets in the way of what feels good, you’ve got to take a step back because understanding is almost always the booby prize.

Out There vs. Here Now

It’s easy to forget, to look outside yourself for comfort, validation, and love.

But no matter how much you get from others, it will never be enough if you don’t give it and get it from yourself.

"Stop looking outside yourself. You are the one you've been waiting for." - image taken at Ruby Lake, BC, Canada

You are the one you’ve been waiting for.

You, and only you, can give yourself what you need.

When you really get that, you and everyone else will be taken care of and the finish line?

Will disappear for good.

 

23 conversations started on “There is No Finish Line”

  1. It’s a ‘rats and botheration’ lesson to learn and frankly sometimes I wish I hadn’t learned it! And yet the freedom, fun and flexibility which comes as soon as we have means that there’s no more thinking to be done, just being and loving and living!

  2. Resonating with Jackie Walker’s comment – and with everything in your post, Sandi! This is wise and gorgeous! 
    I teared up over the phrase: “understanding is almost always the booby prize” – so much of my life (less now, but still…) has been spent trying to understand (particularly other people’s responses, reactions, etc)–
    I’ve been on a different path (so glad! so glad!) for a number of years, the one you share here, but I still sometimes feel the pull to understand (in the negative, booby prize sense, AS IF I could). This is a great reminder – and I am grateful to you for it! Thank you so much! <3

    1. SquarePegKaren I can so relate Karen, as I still struggle on the path to the booby prize! Some days the compulsion to understand is like a throbbing in my brain, but also like you, I am learning to give in to it less and less.

  3. HaHa Sandi I too am always looking for the finish line! I wrote a post (not published yet) which may resonate with you – completely different and yet about the same thing! “What’s the point then?” Maybe being able to ask what’s the point IS the point? We get to be up and down, happy and sad, the worst parts become the blessings and vice versa and there we are in the middle of it!
    “understanding is almost always the booby prize.” LOL – I guess I’m always going for the wrong prize then!
    Don’t mind me – nearly time for a vacation and boy – do I need one!
    Lori

    1. Lori Yup, it’s that striving that gets us…for the finish line, the prize, etc. More living, less striving. What do you think of that as a tattoo? 😉

      1. Sandi Amorim Nice tattoo! Sandi I was thinking about this and realized something. There is something a finish line – something we are running FOR. It’s a prize of some sort- right? Maybe in order to understand why we keep looking for the finish line we need to know what the prize is we want/need.

  4. Wow, we are so on the same wavelength right now that it’s downright scary!  🙂  I just finished doing a radio show all about authentic power, and I found myself saying the same thing.  We are who we’ve been waiting for.  That’s the bad news and the good news.  And I came to the same conclusion — that the heart is a far better pathfinder than the head, that feelings are about the best compass there is.
    This peeling of our layers doesn’t get easier, does it?  Our search for answers gets narrower and narrower.  Pretty soon there’s only one door left to open.  And, lo and behold, when we open it, all we see is a mirror and our own reflection staring back at us, looking just as dumbfounded as we feel.  The cosmic joke is on us.  So we might as well laugh, right?

    1. Carol Hess It seems like it ‘should’ get easier, but it doesn’t really. And yeah, the cosmic joke is definitely on us and some days it’s not that funny! Other days I get the irony of all this angsting and I laugh at myself with compassion. And so the journey continues…

  6. Hi Sandi,
    I believe there’s a series of ‘markers’ in life that we reach (or aim at) and then cash in(or not) … and then the game continues on until you’ve had enough. The final finish line is determined by a higher power. Seeking external is not that bad, it’s often our external experiences that have us looking within .. and that’s a good thing. I enjoyed the points that you highlighted here especially “there’s no right way”.
    Be good to yourself
    David

  7. I like the idea of a disappearing finish line Sandi.  Who needs it anyhoo.  I’m all for continued expansion and expression in all it’s forms, even when I just want to stay in bed and hide away for a day!

  8. I love this line – You, and only you, can give yourself what you need. We do need to love ourselves first and then we can be there for others. Love the inspiration.

    1. Cathy Taughinbaugh That’s a tough lesson to learn sometimes, which is why I keep writing these ongoing reminders – to myself! 😉

  10. This, this, this:
    The compulsion to understand is a powerful motivator, but when it gets in the way of what http://www.devacoaching.com/2013/03/15/notice-the-good/, you’ve got to take a step back because. . .understanding is almost always the booby prize.
    I mean, right? Oh sneaky ego, sometimes I just have to let go of the need to “figure it all out” and let life simply be what it is, in all its amazingness.

    1. Sabrina at MyMiBoSo I have been addicted to “figuring it all out” for most of my life, so I know the challenge of stepping back. AND the more I do so, the better I feel and the more in the flow I feel! A worthy challenge for us, right? 🙂

  11. So this line
    “there was something out there that is not here now. It would imply that there is something you could be that you are not now” confuses me as

    because it seems to imply that there is nothing that you can do about your future, that it is a waste to prepare for anything other than what is here now. 
    I generally like philosphy but I have a hard time understanding that part. Can you help me?

    1. janey911 As I understand it, it’s asking us to consider that we have everything we need right now, and that what gets in our way is not acknowledging this. We think ‘someday’ when I have the (fill in the blank______________) I can be, do and have what I want. That is illusion, not that there’s nothing we can do, but that we think it’s out there. Does that make sense?

      1. Sandi Amorim janey911 
        Scary part is it does make sense…but pretty deep to wrap my head around at the same time. Funny as on Wisc Public TV last night (the same time your reply came to me) I was watching a show on the Buddha…really interesting. And a person on there explained that there is a glass of water because we can hear the tap on the glass and the way the light hits the glass is beautiful…and then the glass falls off the table and is shattered and gone. Precious are the moments I guess is the moral. Thanks for your reply Sandi. Have a beautiful day.

  12. so now I know why I needed to contact you – “stop looking outside yourself” was one of the many themes that were in my head during this morning’s run.
    awesome.

  13. Gary Wilmot Gary, so happy to see you here as I totally LOVED your post: http://nomoremrfatguy.com.au/this-legendary-slice-of-awesomeness-is-the-scariest-shit-ive-written-in-my-entire-life-so-far/?utm_content=bufferf4a23&utm_source=buffer&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Buffer#comment-292
    Heart & courage in spades!

  14. ElleSommer “I like the idea of a disappearing finish line Sandi”
    I don’t – I’m doing a 10km fun run on Sunday and the finishing line better be there! 😉

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