Chapter 1: Fork in the Road

Fork in the Road

She went driving in the dark
driving till she met the dawn
soon she came upon a fork
and could not decide which way to turn
she thought of staying to the left
the road more commonly abused
she saw the others reach their
destinations of a life confused
she knew that she had been there before
she knew she wanted something more
so she chose the road to the right
in hopes it would lead her to the light

she went down this road for miles 
before she saw a single soul
as she approached a man in white
she felt her heart start to enfold
this man was kneeling down in prayer
his arms raised high up to the skies
she stopped and asked herself to dare
stare into this strangers eyes
she knew that she had been there before
she knew by the instant repore
she went driving down the way
driving till she met the day

at last she came upon a fork
and could not decide which way to turn
the road less travelled brought her luck
dared her to see the lessons learned
she stared into this cross for hours
fearing this time she might get lost
but looked around her at the flowers
and thought 'hey, that might now be too bad'
she stared the fork straight in the face
she felt her heart begin to race
she saw her eyes light up from the sun
and she heard her heart say
'take the fork and run with it!'

Lyric analysis

Chapter 1: Fork in the Road

This first song, 'Fork in the Road' is the introduction to our hero's journey that we are going to walk together. It represents the foundational choice we all have to wake up from old patterns which have kept us not fully alive, not yet fully thriving and living at our fullest potential as humans on earth. 

We follow the story of the girl, 'driving in the dark', during a hard time, perhaps the dark night of the soul. She wen't 'driving towards the dawn', towards a feeling that life circumstances will again cycle into a new understanding, a new light, a new perspective. We have all had dark times, times where we come upon hard choices, times where we are faced with how we could be living more deeply connected to our truth and purpose. Sometimes those choices aren't clear cut and easy. Many times, major life choices have opposing needs and valuse which appear perhaps to be at odds with each other, and that tension can keep us stuck much longer than is comfortable. 

The girl comes upon a fork in the road, looking towards the left path, the path that she has taken many times before, the path of old habits, of old behaviors, of old addictions. The way that I envision this seciton is like a loop, that if we go down that path, if we try doing the same thing without making the real change we are yearning t make, we are going to come upon the same fork, the same dark night of the soul, over and over and over again until we finally just break the cycle and take the new direction. 

During the second verse, the girl travels for a while before ever encountering anyone. Often times, when we make big life changes, we may have to leave behind aspects of our self, even people who have been invloved in whatever patterns we are separating from. Sometimes this may be a lonely feeling, and often this fear of being alone keeps us from making the changes we wish to make. I know that it certainly has kept me back  in the past. It can be lonely at the edge of our personality constructs, and it can take alot of guts to be willing to learn how to feel connected even if we happen to be alone. 

Eventually the girl comes upon a man in white. Who is this? What does he represent to you? It could be the holy spirit, it could be someone from our past, it could be your higher self, it could be someone we've dreamed. In many moments, this character has represented all of these things to me. What I feel drawn to share is that this person ultimately represents someone who has ever shared something important with you. Have you ever had the experience of meeting someone and they said something that struck you? Maybe it was exactly what you needed to hear that day? It was a perfectly orchestrated moment fro the universe, and it felt like a message just for your heart? I love these synchronicities, and often when we are about to make big changes, or we are in the midst of making big changes in our lives, our entire world seems to changes, and the subtle changes happening in our mind and energy body create these moments as reminders that we are unfolding our perfect path towards wholeness.  Pay special attention to these moments.

For the girl in the story, this angel that she met on the road is a reminder that she is truly never alone. We are connected to all life in every moment, and as such there is nothing to fear as we tread this new path. 

At last she came upon another fork. This time, she knows that the fear from the past about making decisions is not truly what it seems. It is an illusion, a construct of our mind. A dream. And with this realization, she picks up the fork, and what once seemed to be two paths, join as one path, leading her into the dawn, into fully awakening from the dream of separation. That all along the path, even when it seems like uncharted territory, there are flowers all around her.

Practices

As I am writing this, I want to share that I am particularliy invested in us all transforming our pain, our minds, our emotions into the nectar of integrated healthy living. As such, the thing that feels most important to me is that we learn how to identify our pain, our patterns, and learn skills to completely rescript our operating system. One of the most valuable ways I have found, especially in the beginning of any process, is journaling. Journaling to unpack our stories and challanging emotions, thoughts and worldviews, as well as journaling to dream in our most beautiful life we can imagine- to use the power of our creative energy to generate that which we yearn to experience, and give away as an offering to others.

For this first chapter and song, we are laying the foundation of what we are working on, and laying a seed in our own mind of what we would like to dedicate this work to. Go out and get a special journal for this process, so that you can follow your progress and keep track of what you discover about your healing journey.

Get out your journal

1. Choose an area of your life that you would most like to work on: a pattern, an addiction, a belief, a general intention.- write about this- what is alive for you right now about this? what is the story? what is the struggle? what is the dream?

2. draw a line down a sheet of paper- write on the left side of the peice of paper- 'What am I ready to walk away from?'
for this part, write out all of the things in your life that are associated with this pattern that you would like to let go of. Maybe these are relationships, behaviors, particular emotional struggles, all the things that are no longer serving you. 

3. On the other side of the paper, write out all of the things you are walking towards- what do you imagne is down the line on the path of the unknown? What is the highest vision you have of yourself in a life where you have transformed that which has held you back?

This first practice is establishing the foundation. What you want. What you don't want. see it clearly. 

4. Now ask yourself- are you willing to do whatever it takes to change this pattern? What do you imagine will be the hardest part?