Trust The Process And You'll Find Your Treasure Chest.
Art For Art's Sake: Vol 2 Part 4
When you have a dream, you get a map and a compass.
On the down left corner of the map is marked "You Are Here," and on the upper right corner is the treasure chest full of gold and diamonds and pearls and jewels.
Now between these two points is no pathway. So as common sense would have it, you try to go diagonally to the treasure. Very quickly, you realise walking this way is not working out.
This is when the compass comes in handy. The compass is calibrated to the treasure chest as your North Star. But instead of pointing towards it, the compass needle points you to go on the upper left corner of the map. "That's strange," you think, "I don't want to go in that direction. I need to head diagonally across."
So you keep trying to head straight for the treasure and falling short. It feels like you have been banging your head on the door, and it won't budge. Tired and disheartened, your eyes fall on the compass again. It's still pointing to the upper left corner of the map. Not knowing what else to do, you decide to try it.
As you follow the compass, it takes you for a ride all over the map. To high mountains and deep valleys. To building bridges and crossing rivers. There will also be times when you are back to where you started from, and after a couple of times, you realise that you are not starting from the start again. You now have the knowledge and wisdom you have acquired along the way that is helping you have a rebirth of sorts.
There will be times when you'll doubt the compass. Is this thing working right? But since it came with your dream, it had to be correct. Then why isn't it taking you to your dream, that treasure chest? "No," you tell yourself and continue trusting the compass to lead the way.
When you feel like you'll never find the treasure chest, your compass points you to a magical slingshot. "Take a seat," a cardboard poster suggests. "Might as well," you shrug and sit down. As you do so, the mechanism starts to roll its gears, and you can feel your seat being pulled back. You brace yourself by holding on to bars on the side, and before you even know it, you are shot off into the sky. It threw you so up in the sky that you know in your heart that this is it; you'll die. There's no way you will stick this landing and survive this. And where the hell is it taking you? You have no clue.
You can feel yourself slow down and realise you have reached the highest point. It's time for you to fall down. As you rush back to meet the Earth, you remember your journey through the map. All the things you have done, all the things you have learnt. All for that dream of yours, that treasure chest. Well, at least you tried your best to achieve that dream. And as you close your eyes, readying yourself for the impact, you take a deep breath in and then out, surrendering all your thoughts, beliefs, pains, and hopes. And you hit the ground.
It takes you a few moments to realise that you're alive. You open your eyes and look at yourself and see that you're not hurt. Then you look around and find you're sitting atop your treasure chest. All the gold and diamonds and pearls and jewels surround you. You take out your map and see that on the treasure chest is written, "You Are Here."
This is what I imagine when I remind myself to trust the process.
It was in early-2022 when I found for myself the formula to trust in the process (as a writer, but this applies to all parts of life).
Trust The Process =
(Self-Belief + Hope + Action in the right direction) x Love
Trusting the process is not about the results. Though when done with the right intentions, it can yield you favourable results.
Trusting the process is about trusting your gut, your compass, and letting it lead you to your destination.
Trusting the process means you believe in yourself and your dream.
Trusting the process means you keep the hope alive that everything will eventually work out in your favour.
Trusting the process means you take the necessary actions to make things work.
Trusting the process means you will do it all with lots of love.
And then the results will effortlessly fall into your lap. Or you'll fall into its lap.
