EXERCISES IN COURAGE

TODAY'S QUOTE:"We learn to fly not by becoming fearless, but by the daily practice of courage."... Sam Keen

If flight is your dream, you must be willing to spread your wings and take a huge leap of faith into the unknown. Free falling takes balls. It demands more courage than most of us possess. Our only options are to give up here, or cultivate some... some how.... some way. When in doubt practice is a perfect place to start. With enough exercise most anything becomes doable. I'd much rather work hard on rising up than spend any energy holding myself down.

Some people spend their whole lives fighting primal urges for freedom of one sort or another. The rut they own holds less terror than the unknown. What if they fail? Oh yeah, but what if they don't? The trade off for settling on what is... is that you never, ever get to know what could have been. Bad or good it's gone. For me, that would be a bitter pill that I'd never fully swallow.

Soaring is within reach, yet all too few take the trouble to seek their true hearts desire. Reaching them is never certain, but it seems a crime to let that stop us from even trying. Fear is not our friend. Why do we so often make it our constant companion? Terror has dug more bottomless pits and buried more good people than I like to even imagine. I know this because I used to reside in one.

I finally got a clue and became more fearful of being satisfied with the status-quo than I was of leaping headlong into the unknown. I figured the rut wasn't going anywhere even if I did. That's the only good thing about a rut, it's there if you need it. Not needing it has been the journey of my lifetime. Whatever happens next, I'd do it all again.

Life is meant to be lived by taking upward steps, one after another toward first one goal... and then the next, so our golden years aren't a time of bitter regret. Any fear we face head-on will eventually evaporate to nothing.  Remember that and half the battle is won. We give it power by embracing it in the first place. The simple truth is fear has a hard time holding onto us after we let go of it.

Find the courage to take the first step... and the next one will be much less terrifying. Sure there are times when we trip up and land on our face, or slip and slide to a lower level, but the stairs remain stationary. No searching is ever necessary, remounting is all it takes. Don't simply stand there waiting for the escalator that doesn't exist... lift one foot then the next and climb on. Think about it.... Let it ride.... Then decide!!!!