I recently got back from a weeklong trip to Kauai that was lovely.  It included spending a lot of time with my girlfriend’s cousins and aunties, eating lots of delicious food, and getting an excellent local-style experience.  On one of the last days we drove to the north end of the island, to the end of the road.  You can’t drive any further, but you can hike the famous Na Pali Coast trail from there.

We only had time for a short hike, and we made it to this vista point — the first point where you could view both sides of the coast.  It was very windy.  We were greeted by a stunning scene once we arrived.  Hikers coming back down the trail were muddy, and even though the trail was wet in a lot of places, we stayed relatively clean in our short hike.  If we had the time, I would have liked to have gone further, to the waterfall, to the beach, but that will have to be saved for another time.

Finding vantage points where we can see things we haven’t seen before is a good goal to have I think, both in terms of physical places, and also in the realm of how we interact with others and ourselves.  It might be a real slog sometimes, and we might get muddy and scraped up, but the rewards of increased perspective and awareness is worth it to persevere and keep going.

Where are we heading, and are we taking the time to appreciate the new viewpoints that our path presents?  Where the path goes isn’t maybe the whole point, but how we get there is.  Joy, happiness, contentment, even in the face of challenges, is how I want to live my life.  One step at a time.

Where is your path leading?