Embracing Obstacles

boy climbing obstacle course

Pathfindar. Used with permission. Owner reserves all rights.

When this boy saw the dog obstacle course he couldn’t resist trying it himself. He’s a great reminder that obstacles in our paths aren’t necessarily bad … they’re a great way to test and develop our skills. It reminds me of the Zen master Dogen. When asked how he reached enlightenment he answered, “It was just one mistake after another.” And one of my favorite fortunes was, “You have a great capacity for learning from your mistakes. You will learn a great deal today.”

That’s a good summary of what this past week has been like for me … just one mistake after another. Most of those “mistakes” have been mine, but I did spend several hours last weekend trying to figure out why I was having so much trouble accessing my web site. After a lot of detective work and many phone calls it turned out to be an incompatibility between my hosting service and DSL provider. It was a great exercise in staying patient and centered while I narrowed down the problem, then worked on something else while in the fullness of time they resolved it. As Shilpan said in a comment last week, letting go of expectations and having faith and patience is a great source of happiness.

That doesn’t mean we can’t savor the rewards, too. For me those rewards are increased understanding and skill development…for the squirrel in this video it’s peanuts and candy bars. The important thing is to enjoy the obstacle course as well as the reward at the end. To me that’s what real success is.

What about you? How do you feel about the obstacles in your life? Please share your thoughts in the comments section.


Thanks to bikehikebabe, David, Darren, Shamelle, Robert, and Shilpan for comments on last week’s post.

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3 Responses to Embracing Obstacles

  1. Traveler says:

    Sometimes we find exactly what we need to find, exactly when we need to find it.
    Yesterday I made a change in my site settings that should have fixed a problem I had been having. It was the right change but unfortunately I was making the change during a break at work and so I was in a hurry. I mistyped my sites URL and that made a huge problem. Then it wouldn’t let me back in to change the mistake, it kept directing me to the site I had typed, which didn’t exist.
    Long story a little shorter, it took my site down and I was at work, where I really should have been working but I didn’t want to leave the site down for the couple of hours it would have taken until I got home. So, I owe work some extra time and I learned a ton about .php code. I also learned that I have an excellent host company with unbelievably helpful employees.
    What I’m trying to say is that I hit an obstacle and spent a lot of time trying to plow my way through it when in the end, I was able to ask for help and someone else provided the information I needed to solve the problem. I just needed to take a step back and quit ramming into the wall. I learned that having a little patience and asking someone else for help isn’t such a bad thing.
    Thank you for an excellent post, with perfect timing. I enjoy your blog a lot.

  2. Jean says:

    Traveler,
    Thanks for sharing your story. I know what you mean by trying to push too hard sometimes. I’ve been there and done that! I also know how valuable good technical support can be. I’m very pleased with my hosting service.

    Now I’m trying to keep learning without the external pressure. It seems to be working…so far, at least.

  3. tammy says:

    i like that thought from shilpan…
    “letting go of expectations and having faith and patience is a great source of happiness.”
    i need to remember that.
    i am not patient. not necessarily type a, in your face or else, but i am impatient with myself.
    good thoughts here.

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