How many of you have heard this quote by Dr. Maya Angelou? She once said, “If you are going down a road and don’t like what’s in front of you, and you look behind you and don’t like what you see, get off the road. Create a new path!” What’s the meaning of this quote?
It is a quote that encourages action and self-determination, instead of being stuck between an undesirable future and a regret-filled past. Angelou urges us to reinvent ourselves, to find the courage to forge an entirely new direction for ourselves.
Allow me to clarify a bit more and make my message even clearer. When you look back on the road to where you just traveled and yet, you dislike what you see ahead of you, it is time to make a serious change. Let us examine this thinking more clearly. History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again. We learn from our mistakes. Henry Ford discovered 10,000 things that would not allow him to invent a motor car, quite a list of things to avoid. Ford’s way of thinking was, at least I now know a book of things to avoid. Eventually, he did indeed invent the automobile. If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude and remember to avoid those things that were obviously not good for you.
Next, examine your present situation with these three things in mind: Forgivingly, prayerfully, and gratefully. If you must look back, and you do not like what you see, do so forgivingly. If you must look forward, do so prayerfully. But the wisest course would be to be present in the present gratefully.
Wayne Dyer often shared Portia Nelson’s autobiography in five short paragraph-sized chapters. It’s a wonderful lesson for all of us to learn. Over my 20 years writing this column, I, too, have shared this metaphor.
It goes like this:
Chapter 1: I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I fall in. I am lost … I am helpless. It isn’t my fault. It takes me forever to find a way out.
Chapter 2: I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I pretend I don’t see it. I fall in again. I can’t believe I am in the same place. But it isn’t my fault. It still takes a long time to get out.
Chapter 3: I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I see it is there. I still fall in … it’s a habit. My eyes are open. I know where I am. It is my fault. I get out immediately.
Chapter 4: I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I walk around it.
Chapter 5: I walk down another street.
Portia Nelson and Dr. Maya Angelou’s quotes are both saying the same thing. In short, they are saying, take some time and analyze your life. And if you don’t feel you are on the right road, because it is not resonating with your spirit, you feel like a fish out of water, there is something you can do. You can create a new path by going in a totally new direction. It may mean you must cut down some trees to clear a path, because no one in your family has gone in this new direction you have chosen. Here is when your mastermind group of mentors will help you move along. Each teaching you new steps to take, and be sure to do these things you learn from your guides, until those new things to do become second nature to you.
Sound familiar? Angelou said that when you do not like what you see in your future, and when you look back, you really do not like what your life once was, this is the time to create that new, different path that fits you.
In closing, let this be a time of reflection, where you fast and pray, and you listen to the Holy Spirit, that heavenly voice that speaks things to do into your spirit. Did you think you thought of those great ideas? No! That is exactly how the Holy Spirit works, it leads and guides us. If we would only listen and do those things, no matter how many mistakes you make along the way, keep going!
When should you do what God is telling you to do via the Holy Spirit? Immediately! Scripture reminds us, “If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them” (James 4:17), implying a need to act promptly when you know what to do. Amen!
Lyndia Grant is a speaker/writer living in the D.C. area. Her radio show, “Think on These Things,” airs Fridays at 6 p.m. on 1340 AM (WYCB), a Radio One station. To reach Grant, go to her website, www.lyndiagrant.com, email lyndiagrantshowdc@gmail.com or call 240-602-6295. Follow her on X @LyndiaGrant and on Facebook.