Sometimes getting there is the point

Just an odd thought. I've been watching one of our local news shows in the morning. This one has a young pingpong champion who has been walking along one of the traditional routes - first from Tokyo to Nikko, and now going farther North. But she has been stopping at the old time stops. so her longest walk in a day was something like 17 kilometers, and most days she only does eight or ten kilometers (say 5 to 7 miles for the non-metric). Easy walks for a day, with the advantage that she can stop and talk to people, visit orchards and shops, etc. She has a real chance to let her curiosity lead her astray and still reach the daily goal.

Then I was thinking about the tea ceremony, since I have been invited to one later this week. And it struck me that this is the same attitude. There are clearly faster and easier ways to make a cup of tea, but that's not really the point. Indeed, the product is almost incidental-it is the process, the way, the journey that is the important part. And rushing through that means you have missed it.

Sometimes the way you get there is more important than just exactly where you end up or with what. So take a slow walk, and enjoy the little discoveries on the way.