{"id":838,"date":"2014-04-11T09:13:27","date_gmt":"2014-04-11T13:13:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/?p=838"},"modified":"2014-04-11T16:34:21","modified_gmt":"2014-04-11T20:34:21","slug":"stop-the-train-i-want-to-get-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/2014\/04\/stop-the-train-i-want-to-get-off.html","title":{"rendered":"Stop the Train, I Want to Get Off!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/files\/2014\/04\/photo_9003_20090111.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-839\" alt=\"Stop the Train; I Want to Get Off\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/352\/2014\/04\/photo_9003_20090111-300x225.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/><\/a>Live fully into the life you have&#8230;into the person you are. All this straining, striving, searching, securing&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>And, for what?<\/p>\n<p>To BE more? How could you ever add anything to the perfect creation you are?<\/p>\n<p>What? You don&#8217;t think God did well enough to suit your tastes when she created you just as you are right now? You&#8217;re always imagining what you&#8217;re not. No wonder you can&#8217;t rejoice in who you are.<\/p>\n<p>But, of course, you cannot see that, can you? Or, can you?<\/p>\n<p>All this effort on your part&#8230;the seeking&#8230;the striving&#8230;the securing&#8230;the saving&#8230;and, again, for what?<\/p>\n<p>To HAVE more? Well, go for it, if that&#8217;s where you think it is. Struggle and strain to get ahead&#8230;to get more. You likely will get it. You&#8217;ll end up with lots more. \u00a0It&#8217;s the &#8220;American&#8221; way, isn&#8217;t it? Yes, yes, just imagine it. You&#8217;ll have it. You will have arrived. \u00a0You&#8217;ll be the envy of them all. You&#8217;ll drive a BMW. That&#8217;ll show them. Yes, they&#8217;ll know then, and so will you, that you&#8217;re finally getting the respect you deserve. \u00a0Instead of driving around as a depressed soul in the beat up Toyota, now you can drive around as a depressed soul in a fancy BMW.<\/p>\n<p>What progress you&#8217;ve made. Just look at you. A successful, depressed soul.<\/p>\n<p>Doesn&#8217;t make much sense, does it? You &#8220;dance round in a ring and suppose,&#8221; as Robert Frost put it, &#8220;but the secret sits in the middle and knows.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Where is the secret in the middle?&#8221; you ask.<\/p>\n<p>Stop looking for it.<\/p>\n<p>Stop striving for it.<\/p>\n<p>You have it already. You ARE it already.<\/p>\n<p>Just sit down. Right now. Right where you are.<\/p>\n<p>You&#8217;ll see&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>You&#8217;ll know.<\/p>\n<p>The secret is&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>YOU! What more could you ever need?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Live fully into the life you have&#8230;into the person you are. All this straining, striving, searching, securing&#8230; And, for what? To BE more? How could you ever add anything to the perfect creation you are? What? You don&#8217;t think God did well enough to suit your tastes when she created you just as you are&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":551,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[190],"tags":[1508,1510,1513,1511,142,1514,1517,169,1505,773,1507,1515,1229,1512,1518,951,1504,1506,1228,1516,1509],"class_list":["post-838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life-2","tag-be","tag-bmw","tag-dance-round","tag-depressed-soul","tag-god","tag-in-a-ring","tag-knows","tag-life","tag-live-fully","tag-robert-frost","tag-searching","tag-secret-sits-in","tag-seeking","tag-soul-2","tag-stop-looking","tag-stop-striving","tag-stop-the-train","tag-straining","tag-striving","tag-the-middle","tag-to-have-more"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Stop the Train, I Want to Get Off! - Your Best Life Now<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/2014\/04\/stop-the-train-i-want-to-get-off.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Stop the Train, I Want to Get Off! - Your Best Life Now\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Live fully into the life you have&#8230;into the person you are. All this straining, striving, searching, securing&#8230; And, for what? To BE more? How could you ever add anything to the perfect creation you are? What? You don&#8217;t think God did well enough to suit your tastes when she created you just as you are&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/2014\/04\/stop-the-train-i-want-to-get-off.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Your Best Life Now\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-04-11T13:13:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-04-11T20:34:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/files\/2014\/04\/photo_9003_20090111-300x225.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"smcswain\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Stop the Train, I Want to Get Off! - Your Best Life Now","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/2014\/04\/stop-the-train-i-want-to-get-off.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Stop the Train, I Want to Get Off! - Your Best Life Now","og_description":"Live fully into the life you have&#8230;into the person you are. All this straining, striving, searching, securing&#8230; And, for what? To BE more? How could you ever add anything to the perfect creation you are? What? You don&#8217;t think God did well enough to suit your tastes when she created you just as you are&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/2014\/04\/stop-the-train-i-want-to-get-off.html","og_site_name":"Your Best Life Now","article_published_time":"2014-04-11T13:13:27+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-04-11T20:34:21+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/files\/2014\/04\/photo_9003_20090111-300x225.jpg"}],"author":"smcswain","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/2014\/04\/stop-the-train-i-want-to-get-off.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/2014\/04\/stop-the-train-i-want-to-get-off.html","name":"Stop the Train, I Want to Get Off! - Your Best Life Now","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/2014\/04\/stop-the-train-i-want-to-get-off.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/2014\/04\/stop-the-train-i-want-to-get-off.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/files\/2014\/04\/photo_9003_20090111-300x225.jpg","datePublished":"2014-04-11T13:13:27+00:00","dateModified":"2014-04-11T20:34:21+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/#\/schema\/person\/a79b0cba765879c3d1711d801e7b5018"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/2014\/04\/stop-the-train-i-want-to-get-off.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/2014\/04\/stop-the-train-i-want-to-get-off.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/2014\/04\/stop-the-train-i-want-to-get-off.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/files\/2014\/04\/photo_9003_20090111-300x225.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/files\/2014\/04\/photo_9003_20090111-300x225.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/2014\/04\/stop-the-train-i-want-to-get-off.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Stop the Train, I Want to Get Off!"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/","name":"Your Best Life Now","description":"Beliefnet Voices","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/#\/schema\/person\/a79b0cba765879c3d1711d801e7b5018","name":"smcswain","description":"I'm an Author... Leadership Coach... Counsel to Non-Profits, Faith-based Organizations and Congregations... Adjunct Professor of Communication at the University of Kentucky... Spiritual Teacher... Inspirational and Motivational Speaker. But not always in this order. On the university campus, I teach students the Art of Communication. In my public talks, however, I teach leaders the Art of Leading; I teach everyone the Art of Living...so that... when you come to the end... and, you will come to the end... You're able to look back on life feeling... Fulfilled... Accomplished... Content, Peaceful, and Happy, too... Knowing your brief but important journey has made this world a more... Conscious... Compassionate, and... Charitable place. What could possibly be more important than this?","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.stevemcswain.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/author\/smcswain"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/551"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=838"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/838\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":842,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/838\/revisions\/842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourbestlifenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}