Cairns and your life journey!

"We all have the same destination in life, it is therefore the journey that is important!"

We just came back from an outstanding trip to the U.S., with lots of hiking and horse riding. During one of the hikes, I began to notice the beauty, uniqueness, balance and utility of the cairns we passed along the way. They symobilise the following for me:

(1) Balance in the present: Each of us strives for balance in the current moment or present. This striving is just like building a cairn. Each's person's balance is different, just like each cairn. Some of the rocks in the cairn can even be named:

• Achievements (goals, objectives)


• Attitude


• Appreciation


• Accountability


• Alignment (values, roles and behaviours)


• Action

(2) Journey markers: Goals and objectives help us move from where we are, to where we want to be. The same is true for cairns. We build cairns to guide us on our journey, using our goals, objectives, values. They also serve as a way of celebrating the past, just like achieved goals and objectives, saying "Hey, I was there, I did that!"

(3) Guide: And.. once we have constructed our journey, with it's cairns consisting of balance in the present and direction for the future, these cairns and our journey, can serve as a guide for others!

This spoke to me so strongly, that I am going to develop this concept further for use as a way of symobilising the coaching and facilitating work I do.