What Blocks the Way

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“We tend to make the thing in the way the way.” – Mark Nepo

In The Book of Awakening, Mark Nepo tells the story of the time he and his friend, Robert, drove 400 miles to visit the Botanical Gardens of Montreal to visit the largest bonsai collection in the world outside of Asia.

“We strolled toward the Chinese Temple Garden, a lush yet simple retreat from the streets that covers acres, a place of renewal originally constructed in the 1600’s in China and moved stone by stone to Montreal in 1990.”

The Book of Awakening by Mark Nepo

Only to find it locked. Mark feels grumpy as he follows his friend as he starts to walk the perimeter.

“Suddenly, when we had walked farther than was originally in our view, the walls disappeared. It turned out that the Garden had no walls, save for the façade at its entrance. So we simply walked through the open grass to a path that welcomed us.”

The Book of Awakening by Mark Nepo

That lesson in having enough resilience and belief to find the way around what seems locked resonates with me. In fact, it’s the topic of my post for The Heart of the Matter today: Stuck on the Path to Freedom.

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(featured photo from Pexels)

20 thoughts on “What Blocks the Way”

  4. Way to go for finding a way around the blockage and getting a night off out. I hope you enjoyed the time with friends.

    Persistence and resilience go hand in hand but to your point, it’s often not about running and trying to ram a shut steel door open but finding creative ways around the object that’s blocking your path.

    As a cat person, two at home, maybe there’s a point to be made about Being the Dog as you said!

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    1. Trying to ram a shut steel door – well said, Ab. I’ve tried to do that a time or two as well. I love that you can relate to “be the dog” even as a cat person! 🙂 And thank you for the well wishes – I had a fun night out with friends! I need to remember to do that more often.

      Hope you have a great week!

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      1. Lol! Yes, Montreal has many quirks! Some people call them frustrations, but I’m not living with them anymore so I can see them as quirks! 😅😆

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