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We don't always go where we are sure we are going

According to a recent report, Jim Metcalfe, a businessman in the United Kingdom, did what he had done so many times before: he got on a train in Glasgow at midnight to travel for about five hours and, therefore, waking up in London at down. And, as he always does, once inside the train, Metcalfe fell asleep.

At 5:30 a.m., Metcalfe woke up ready for his day at work in London, but something wasn't right. Almost immediately, a representative from the railway company informed him that the train was still in Glasgow. In fact, the train hadn't moved an inch. Due to problems on the tracks, the trip had been cancelled.

According to the same media report, the representative told Metcalfe that they tried to wake him up during the night, but because he was so sound asleep, they couldn't. Therefore, they decided to let him sleep, although there was always someone watching of him to avoid any inconvenience.

The trip was canceled after Metcalfe and many other passengers were already on the train. But apparently Metcalfe was the only one to fall asleep without being woken up. Therefore, to his astonishment, although, upon waking up, he thought that he had already reached his destination, he was still at the starting point.

Metcalfe's situation serves as an illustration of the situation in which many people find themselves, not on a train journey, but in the journey of life: they fall "asleep" (although they are "awake") and, although they assume that they are progressing towards their goal, they always remain in the same place.

In the journey of life, contrary to what happened to Metcalfe, rarely does someone stay by our side to take care of us while we "sleep" and for as long as needed until we "wake up" and become aware of our situation, that is, until we stop deluding ourselves into believing that we are "progressing."

Many of us, like the UK businessman, decided to go from “here” (wherever that “here” is) to “there” (wherever that “there” is), trusting that once we get “there” we will start a new life. But we don't realize that we haven't really advanced an inch. We remain the same as before, without any changes in our thoughts, ideas, hearts, minds, emotions, or attitudes.

We start dreaming about changing and improving our lives by changing places (or jobs, or partners), but we are sound asleep. Therefore, we let something (the train) or someone (the boss, the spouse, or whoever) to "take" us to our destination. And then one day and by miracle, we wake up only to realize that we are still where we always were.

Our “dream”, far from being an invitation to action and personal transformation, was (and perhaps still is) just an expression of laziness and self-deception. Life is an energy that constantly flows. Therefore, you cannot live life sitting and sleeping, hoping to get to a destination that unfortunately you will never reach, unless you truly begin your journey.

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