Begin At The Crossroads
Where You Are and Who You Are is Your Entry Point into This Adventure
Walking down the street I walk every day, I come to my usual crosswalk. I’m scanning the newspaper headlines on my mobile — the usual sorry story of the world … pollution, poverty, violence, war — so at first I don’t immediately notice the signal light.
The clucking of a chicken from the other side of the crosswalk brings me back to my surroundings. A chicken? Perplexed, I look from the chicken to the traffic signal. The walking man symbol burns brightly so I begin to cross.
Immediately it changes to a red hand. No warning. Just Stop.
I scramble back to the curb to avoid all the oncoming traffic.
How strange I think after recovering from my near brush with a big truck with an especially loud horn. Usually, I get more warning to stop.
The chicken’s cluck sounds remarkably like laughter, which does little to settle my jangled nerves. I wait rather impatiently for the light to change again to the walking man. When it does I step off the curb, yet once more it changes immediately to the red hand, punctuated by a squawk from the chicken.
What the …? I look around. This bizarre traffic light malfunction doesn’t seem to be impacting anyone else. I am the only one standing at the crosswalk attempting to cross at this moment. Everyone else; cars, pedestrians, cyclists all seem to be following a different path, one that doesn’t seem to include chickens. Flustered and uncomfortable I stand alert with heightened senses.
This time when the light changes it doesn’t turn to the walk symbol at all. Instead, it flashes a question:
Are you sure this is the direction you want to take?
I blink my eyes to clear my vision. A malfunctioning traffic light is not questioning me… that would be impossible. When I blink again the red hand signals STOP from the cross light. My momentary relief changes to irritation and I whack the walk button with frustration.
Yes, I declare out loud. This is the direction I want to go. This is the direction I always go. I want to cross this street.
And then the light changes to a statement.
You stand at the Crossroads.
Crossroads mark moments to choose your path.
Are you happy with the direction we are headed?
I pause in mid-rant. Just a moment ago, while scanning the headlines, hadn’t I had the glimmer of a thought that I wished for something different?
Something more.
Now there is an elderly person standing at the other side of the crosswalk staring at me with an intensity that is unnerving. Really seeing me. I grow still and look in return. This person looks so familiar. But different. More radiant. Glowing. Filled with a vitality that somehow seems extraordinary.
Are you inspired by the path you are taking? this familiar stranger asks.
What?… it’s just a crosswalk. I’m just crossing the street.
And what if you took a different path? You do know that you have the power to change your path. You have the power to change the future.
Now it is becoming clear who this person looks like. This person… looks like me. Older, wiser, an air of joy and excitement I can’t remember feeling for years. What kind of parallel universe is just across this street? Could this be me… in the future?
Possible future the figure corrects me. I am you from one possible future. The one you wish for most. I have come to guide you there if you’ll let me.
I have come to help you choose the future. You do every day. With the choices you make. Every time you stand at a crossroads, be it a big crossroads or a small one, you are asked to choose. Each choice creates your future.
For you to have the future that you truly want, the future that fulfills your destiny, the future that changes your world, you must choose it NOW.
And with that, the figure vanishes. Only the chicken and I remain at the crosswalk.
This path I am walking on, could I imagine a different one? What would happen if I changed my course? Would I meet someone new? Would I do things differently? Where would I end up? How would the world change if I changed?
And suddenly the metal walk button beneath my hand changes to the smooth ancient bark of a great gnarled tree. This Crossroads Tree stretched across the crosswalk, its branches cradling the traffic signal which now flashes a new message:
You are at the Crossroads. Ready to step out into an adventure that can only be lived by you. You are becoming the change most needed in your world. Follow me into the future.
I step off the curb into an extraordinary world.
Day 0: Welcome to the Adventure
“Wherever you are is the entry point.” — Kabir
This story is a journey into the future. This is the future where you become the change most needed in your life and world. Challenges and opportunities await you around every corner. You meet many people along the way; some allies to your quest, others obstacles in your path. Your courage and faith are tested time and again until at last, you become the You that changes your world. Many call this The Hero’s Journey.
It is the true life adventures of You. You ‘play’ the role of hero as you journey into Life Realms that correspond to life roles. These realms are the gameboard where you playfully transform the future into a game of inspiration, imagination, and true love.
Your Game
In the coming days, you are invited to explore The Crossroads. Your Future and Past Selves will serve as guides and allies to ready you for the journey ahead. Here you will set up your game and meet the Guides that will be your companions in the days to come.
From the Crossroads, you head out into The Adventure. This adventure game will help you identify and reach destinations in all your Life Realms. In the coming season, your Guides will bring extraordinary tools and challenge you with extraordinary tasks, designed to help you tell your unique life story.
The Power of Story
Your story is your life, the adventurous game you are playing. Each of us is responsible for telling a unique story to the world. The story you have to share can only be told by you. You are telling it now.
The question is: are you telling your story unconsciously or on purpose?
Your Guides will assist you with tasks and tools to tell your story intentionally and authentically. The true life adventures of You. This is the story you tell to change the world, beginning with your own.
Begin at the Crossroads
In days of old, Crossroads were signposts where the road diverged into two or more paths, and a traveler had to make a choice of which road to take. In storyteller vernacular Crossroads are known as ‘betwixt and between’.
You stand at a ‘betwixt and between’ place in the ordinary world. One path leads to the familiar life that you have known. The other leads to the yet unchartered territories of your extraordinary potential.
Whenever you stand at a Crossroads and must choose which path to take you are asked one question: Who are you? The true answer to this question will decide your choice.
When making the choice to heed the call and live your authentic life story you become capable of contributing great meaning and healing to the world. Now is the time to reimagine the life story you are playing on the world stage. Now is the time to live the true life adventures of You.
GAMEPLAY: THE TIME TRAVEL CHICKEN
Each day you are encouraged to travel into the future and the past with the Time Travel Chicken. Named for both its check-in quality and its association with the age-old mysteries: why did the chicken cross the road, and which came first, the chicken or the egg?
It begins at the Crossroads and identifies where you are and who you are, important clues to decipher before heading out on a life change journey.
Ideal time traveling times are when you are betwixt and between dreaming and waking and waking to dreaming. The earth itself is making its own crossroad transition, moving from dark to light in the morning and back again in the evening. A Time Travel Chicken contains 5 steps and the egg (0) step. You will learn these steps over the course of the next six days.
Today’s Step:
Step 0) Stop. Just Be. Breathe.
