Fulfilled Life

Fulfilled life is possible in spite of unfulfilled wishes.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Really? The majority of people I witness surely don't assume this truth, at least not in the moment when wishes and dreams are in the process of being dashed and the feeling of fulfillment is far from reality. The natural response to unfulfilled dreams is kicking, screaming, pouting, denying, justifying, settling for less...but certainly not, "So, what I want isn't going to happen. That's okay, though, because fulfillment is just around the corner."

When her car was side swiped yesterday, pushing her into the path of another car, her plans to go wedding dress shopping with the bride went automatically unfulfilled. How is she to shift gears and feel fulfillment rather than intense anger and severe disappointment?

I truly believe in Bonhoeffer's statement. And I want to live my life that way. I want to be able to make my plans, execute my plans AND accept the detours and abortions along the way. I expect to feel anger and disappointment because it comes with the territory of being human. But I also expect that after I have given voice to my humanness, something far more wise and all-seeing will let me embrace a bigger understanding: that Fulfillment is something more than wishes granted and Unfulfillment is not about dashed dreams. Wishes and dreams are merely the itinerary of moving from point A to point B in getting through our hours, days and years of life. They are a way to execute living. Wishes and dreams are not Life. Life and Fulfillment is about the meaning behind the itinerary. The big, Big picture. The journey of the soul. The journey to Love and Wholeness. Beside Wholeness, our day to day wishes and desires can look petty.

Yet those daily plans are the highways on which we travel through life. Without them, we go nowhere. So, I honor the wishes and desires at the same time keeping my heart open to the Bigger Picture so that I gain not only a perspective of the now but also a perspective of the All.

It can be done. Fulfilled life IS possible in spite of unfulfilled wishes.