I once had a dream that I was standing at the threshold of a sturdy wooden door with a brass handle. Something inside me knew that if I opened the door, I would step into a space filled with more doors that each led to their own worlds. Beyond each of those doors, I could sense further worlds yet unimaginable to be. And it all was made accessible when I stepped through the first door.

When I awoke from my dream, it all made perfect sense to me. The doors in my dream had been metaphors for the portals available to us all when we make life choices based on aligned action. Like individual bulbs strung together on a line, every choice we make leads to infinite possibilities and opens new perspectives, opportunities, offerings, and experiences.

The inner work of self-healing can sometimes feel like a deep dive from one door toward more doors. I often hear from my clients (and I have experienced this within myself too) that the more they engage their inner work, the more they realize that there are mountains more healing, growth, and expansion ahead for them. This realization seems counter-intuitive to their belief that deep inner work leads to less and less necessary self-growth. The process never seems to get “there.” You know, that illusive place where healing has been achieved and growth stops? I am speaking to the “there” I think many of us tend to set our sights on when we begin our inner journey. Instead, we discover that no boxes can be checked with deep healing work because there is no true destination; up, up, up we go with no ceiling.

When you accept the truth that there is no “there” to get to in the realm of self-exploration, you can start following the breadcrumb trail that leads from one door to another. If you choose to release your attachment to the “there” you had previously hoped you could reach, you will notice that the trail of your own inner-investigation meanders through vast inner terrain that only becomes available when you consciously choose to courageously walk through the doors of you psyche in exploration. Because psychological and emotional healing are not linear or one-dimensional, people on the track to personal growth and evolution tend to grow familiar with the complex process of encountering doors that lead to more doors.

Every time you move through a new door, you are crossing into a threshold that grants you new expansive awareness into your Self, your life experiences, your relationships, and your intrinsic drive toward your personal purpose. Though it can feel scary at times to cross thresholds when you are not always clear of their direction, it is essential to do so. When we remain stuck at a doorway, in resistance or refusal to walk through its portal into the unknown, we limit our ability to live in full expression. The cadence of life is centered around movement and growth, and when we cut ourselves off from this essential flow, our very souls pang with the density and weight of a life un-lived to the extent of its creative potential. You see, every time you move from one doorway into the new territory it opens, you bring with you the wisdom and gems from doorways-past. By integrating the learnings from the past with the creative potential of the present and possibility of the future, you ensure that the growth of your human experience, soul, and consciousness remain alive.

Here is my invitation to you: The next time you feel like you are standing at a threshold (whether it is related to a big life decision, a choice that offers something new and different, saying YES when you may have inclined toward NO), consider that you are about to walk through a doorway. There are no wrong choices in life, only learning experiences. So if you walk through a door that leads to undesirable experiences, chalk them up for the learning the offer, and seek a further door to move through. The purpose of seeing self-growth as movement through a series of doors does not require or guarantee that all doors lead to paradise. Let’s be honest, sometimes paradise isn’t where we learn the most and evolve into our best selves. Sometimes the breadcrumb trail must move you through doorways of hardship, suffering, grief, and pain in order to usher you forward toward new thresholds that can integrate the meaningful learnings of those experiences for future understanding.

The bottom line is this: Move yourself through the magical portals of as many psychological and emotional doors as possible in this wild experience of life. Be they glimmering with hope or shrouded in sadness, I cannot understate the valuable learning that comes with experiencing the vast sampler platter of our human lives. Just remember not to get stuck in any one landing place, be it joyous or grievous, because true inner-evolution comes with moving from door to door, portal to portal, and layer to layer of your complex and magnificent human experience.