What exactly is a fork in the road story?

...and how will sharing your story help?

Did you ever get a feeling, have a strong inclination or hear a voice urging you to choose a certain path and discover something unexpected? Life is a series of thousands upon thousands of forks in the road. When you strip life down to its core, it’s all about making one choice after another. Add up all your choices and there’s your life. Life IS a fork in the road.

I am writing a book about how we respond to the thousands of forks in the road in our life. Oftentimes, we don’t hear or feel the tiny voice deep inside of us trying to guide us to one choice or another. Sometimes we do hear that voice but ignore it. And then there are those times where we hear the voice, follow that fork and discover there was a good reason for going down that path.

Some of these forks are tiny like what order do we go through our morning routine, do we drive straight home or turn left and go to a restaurant. Some of them could be big such as a career change, business decision, continuing a relationship or deciding whether to tell a loved one something difficult. There are many times when a big decision in our life comes to us through a series of many tiny decisions that lead us down a path. Life is so full of what do I do, which way do I go, where do I turn, do I make the call, do I speak up, do I go for it?

Have you ever followed your inner voice or feelings to make a choice? Were you surprised by how it turned out? Have you ever ignored a very strong urge or inclination and things didn’t turn out so well? Did they continue to turn out badly as long as you continued to ignore this inner feeling? And when you finally followed it, did things change?

We may hear compelling messages inside our heads, deep in our hearts but succumb to the influence of our parents, our spouse, our friends or even complete strangers sometimes. Do these messages come to us purely by accident or are they a part of some grand design? Many of us don’t pay much attention to our thoughts or dismiss inner voices and other feelings without serious reflection.

Maybe we are receiving messages all the time and are just not fully aware of it. The big question to consider is whether we are receiving guidance from within and beyond that is actually looking out for us and guiding us through life… if we would only listen?

My book research is looking for what happens inside us at the moment we make a choice and what led up to that decision. Ultimately, I want to discover if, in fact, there is a grand guide patiently waiting to lead us through all these forks in the road, how to recognize that voice and figure out what it means. You can learn more about the book research project by reading articles in our Media Room.

If you have a story about a choice you made big or small, please share it. The more stories I hear, the better I can discover if we are actually receiving valuable messages about which path to take and how to recognize when they are the real thing. I am especially interested in forks in the road where there were little or no facts to support your making that choice but you were feeling such a strong urge to go down that path that you took it with surprising results.

The more stories I receive, the more powerful the conclusions I can share about these messages that come from within and beyond. We are creating a worldwide community all helping to discover how our inner wisdom works. Share your story, read others’ stories and offer comments. Together, we can learn something new that will help all of us. Life Is a fork in the road.

Share Your Story Here

4 Responses to “What exactly is a fork in the road story?”

1. Elizabeth Armstrong says:

   November 27, 2009 at 8:58 am

   At a young age I found that the path for best success was the one that resulted from taking a minute and feeling. By removing my ego and allowing feelings of well being associated with an action allowed for right action and abundance to flow my way. I have many stories of how taking a minute to feel resulted in great choices for forks in my path. Thank you for allowing me to share. If you want more details I will share. 707-758-9166

   Reply
2. Janet Vanderhoof says:

   December 1, 2009 at 12:23 pm

   When one door closes another opens. If we don’t respond to some of our desires and ignore them or don’t act on them, we may find our life at a standstill. Even if the action might not end up what we desired, it may lead us another direction that does. If we don’t take any action we may be wasting our time desiring something that wouldn’t have worked anyway, but is still necessary for us to take the steps in progression of our journey. If we don’t kow what to do, we just have to do something, anything to get out of the blocked state of fear.

   Reply
3. Belinda Godin says:

   April 6, 2012 at 8:55 am

   Thoughts about life being a fork in the road…

   An interesting thing happened during vacation last summer.  I never expected to return home with a new perspective along with a suntan, but I did. I encountered three engaging people who made some adventurous decisions and it made all the difference. I listened to their stories.

   Right away I met Jim and Dottie, a couple in their 60s, who recently changed the landscape of their lives, literally. They couldn’t be happier and they credit that big change to saving Jim’s life. I took note of their contentment. 

   A few days later I met a woman in her 50s who recently checked her lackluster CPA job at the door and never looked back. She earned the necessary credentials to teach sailing and she’s been enjoying the seafaring lifestyle ever since. I took note. The outcome for these three people: high contentment with few regrets.

   Beverly Sills, author of The Comfort Trap (or What If You’re Riding A Dead Horse?) says, “Truth is a constant. It eliminates distractions and clutter, clarifies every situation and helps you manage any change you want to make.” It seems to me that the people I met on vacation had done this. They took an honest look at their lives, eliminated distractions and made some big changes.

   The truth is, I have been investing my time in worthwhile endeavors which includes working part-time and being available for my husband and two daughters. Returning to school honestly would not have worked if I had attempted it even two years ago due to some circumstances beyond my control. Being truthful about what I really wanted and what my family and I can manage now has eliminated distractions and solidified my decision to return to college for a Master’s degree.

   My goals include helping college students in the areas of career services and academic advising. I look forward to working with people who want to be in school and are working to see their dreams realized. As I reflect on my college experiences and peruse my grades I certainly have some regrets. By helping students stay on track, we can eliminate some false starts and stumbling through college. I want to do for them what I needed more of as an undergraduate student.

   While working with youth through non-profit agencies I counseled many teens. I helped them experience a paradigm shift as I encouraged them to gravitate to pursuits that will benefit them and society. In my role at Project LEARN I have come to appreciate students’ willingness to achieve something many people take for granted. I have witnessed the “lights coming on,” if you will, in a woman who suffers from a brain injury as she struggles to think about what she’s reading. I am a mentor, a teacher, a tutor, a guide, all for the purpose of assisting others to achieve personal integrity and clarity. I don’t regret having been generous with my time and resources because I know I made some difference to the people interested in what I provided.

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4. William says:

   April 15, 2012 at 8:19 am

   eI was playing around with the idea of starting a blog that needs to be about real life and the challeges we face from time to time. Like you, I really do love my wife. I never wanted to be with anyone else and cannot imagine that in future. That being said, I don’t think that my wife is happy, I don’t think that I make her happy. I thought about this from so many angles and can’t seem to get tovthe bottom of it. She loves reading, romantic stories, and sometimes it feels as if real life are just doomed to not measure up.

   I thought about starting a blog about expectations and to try and get real about what we can really expect from one another? Sometimes I think the media, storybooks and the expectations it generates makes real life such a let down, that we are all doomed to live miserable lives. I don’t want to live a life like that. That being said, I do think thatvI am flawed. I am no George Clooney, but neither is he! We want so much to be or have perfection, but somehow that just seem to mess us up for good. It makes us restless and unhappy about the things that we do have: and these in a lot of cases involve real love, commitment, honesty and yes, sometimes getting it wrong. I don’t intend to make drastic changes in my life. I believe that I am staying for all the right reasons, I found your website, because I was looking for a reality check. I thijk the book will be awesomel it has all the makings of just that. All the best on you endeavour and good luck.

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