The Path of Least Resistance

By Cie Marchi

A pathway made of flat stepping stones crosses a brook

What are your life intentions? Your goals? What motivates you toward achieving these ideas?

Life presents steppingstones. Each of these sturdy pathways guide us toward realizing our life’s path. Are you aligning with your intended goals whether a business opportunity, a love interest, an extravagant vacation or becoming a millionaire? Or are you exerting precious energy against yourself? Are there seemingly concrete walls causing anxiety or delays?

For four years, I tried everything to move to Arizona so I could manage my aging father. This goal was met with constant disappointment and frustration. I needed clarity, so I heaved back my forced efforts. I stopped fighting against myself. With my life at full stop, I quieted my mind. I allowed myself to listen. Immediately, I regained confidence in the Ask and All Is Yours philosophy. Like pebbles gathering to create a foundation, my intent quickly culminated into a meandering aggregate stone path. “Meandering” doesn’t sound like a path of least resistance. In retrospect, the woven footprint was critical.

Components dropped from out of the ethers. My lap filled with guidance. I accepted an Arizona job. I quit a job that I loved. I listed my condominium, rented an apartment, then moved 1300-miles within fourteen days. Though, I knew deep down the new job was a catalyst for forward movement—I didn’t even unpack. Two days into the new job, I was assigned to work from the apartment: no training, no computer, no WIFI and still ninety minutes away from my father.

Stressful as my surroundings were, I confidently supported my firm credence that change is always good and that all situations work out. With those thoughts in mind, I asked myself, what is my participation in this belief?

Stand on the current steppingstone and wait. Listen. Relax into silent moments. Trust in intuitional signals as if they were doorbells. At any given moment I could choose to answer the door or ignore what was being effortlessly brought to me. Recalling the multiple times when supporting elements gathered then came to me, I returned to gently nurturing my focus.

Six weeks later, an unknown caller buzzed my cellphone. I answered the call. Airwaves delivered my next foothold. Without my knowledge, these pebbles had already catapulted into motion, leading me to a third job. A directive from the highest level, indeed.

I accepted a businesswoman’s offer of employment. I quit the “catalyst” job. I paid the excruciating lease buy-out fee and two more months of rent. I moved in with my dad and worked from “home.” The condominium and a newly purchased townhome–found one mile from my dad’s house–closed simultaneously. I moved a third time within four months.

The consequences of my physical, mental, and financial strain were worth the consecutive stone-by-stone process. Each pebble had been necessary to build upon the preceding stone on which I now stand. I had answered the calls that were essential to complete one intended life purpose.

The irony of this path of least resistance story is that I’m now living near my father while working from my Arizona home for a company found in the city I left behind. Had I accepted the employment offer in 2019, I would not be aiding my father today.
Your path is controlled by your thoughts and actions. Allowing clues to trill into your lap is a key element of success. By stopping the tug-of-war with yourself, components align. Goal finales are effortlessly realized.

Ask yourself: Am I exerting useless energy, fighting against my innate knowing of what is to come? Is my vested participation allowing the sweet flow of life to freely present itself? Will I have the courage to answer the call?
You do, and you will.

Your ambitions to seek freedom, to delight in joy and the inherent expansion of yourself are one…two…three…steppingstones away. Answer those calls!

This article originally appeared in the Spring 2021 issue of CHOICES Magazine