Blog post 12/14/24
“I think I see some gold,” I shouted with excitement to Aunt Sue. She came over to where I stood by the trough of water panning for gold, barely tall enough to reach. It was the early 1970’s in North Georgia mountains near Dahlonega Georgia, site of the second major gold rush in the U.S. and the first in Georgia that began in 1829. The gold rush only lasted until the 1840’s and quickly ended, but the region capitalized on the history for tourists and offered an opportunity to pan for gold. If you were lucky you might find a few gold flakes but nothing significant. However, even the gold flakes were an exciting treasure find for a young kid like me at the time. You spent time carefully sifting the silt and other sediments from the water in a pan until you found a bit of treasure.
Reflecting on this memory, I’m reminded that our lives include times where we are panning and sifting for metaphoric gold or other treasure. When we are trying to figure out what goals or actions to take that are most important to our professional and personal advancement we sift through the sediment to find the slivers, flakes, or nuggets of gold treasure that are most valuable to our journey. If we spend time looking carefully, patiently, and with child-like curiosity inside ourselves and our intuition, personal stories, and experiences, sifting methodically through the waters of our spirit like panning for gold, we find those shiny inner treasures that give us inspiration, direction, knowledge, strength, and resilience to thrive.
Similar to panning for gold, when you look at mining precious stones like diamonds, there’s also a long methodical process whereby the earth and rock must be removed to expose the ore. Then the ore is broken up to extract the rough diamonds, which then have to be cleaned, cut and polished before resulting in the valuable gemstones we know as diamonds. It takes time to find and prepare the precious diamond treasures before they are of value.
Just like panning for metaphorical gold in our lives, we also have metaphorical diamond treasures internally that are invaluable to us. They are a part of what makes each of us special, unique, one-of-a-kind. But those elements or metaphorical diamonds of our true essence and being can’t fully sparkle and shine brightly unless we take the time to excavate internally. Find those diamond deposits within ourselves, remove the earth and rock, break open the ore, and patiently and lovingly clean, cut and polish those metaphorical diamonds that are our most precious gemstones and treasured elements of our unique selves.
This inner work can be done by ourselves for the most part, but sometimes, it helps if you have others to assist you panning for the gold and mining for the diamonds. It is also important to find the right tools, time and place for this inner search. It is challenging work, but in the end you will find those shiny flakes and nuggets of gold and sparkling diamonds that are your inner treasures making you smile and shout happily like I did as a little kid panning for gold in the North Georgia mountains. And those inner treasures you find will inspire, direct, empower, and strengthen your resilience as you face all life’s challenges, times of transformation, uncertainty, work towards your goals, and thrive.
As always, I encourage you to reflect on your own stories and times where you’ve panned for inner gold or mined for inner diamonds on your journey. What helped you in that process? How might you explore more internally now in your present journey stage? May this story and your own reflection provide new insights and a sense of curiosity that helps you on your journey and to thrive, because Your Story Matters.
Happy Holidays
