“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”

But still, we are afraid of that risk, aren’t we?

So why are we so afraid to take a risk? Why are we so terrified to take that inspired action to turn our obstacle into an opportunity? Is it because we might fail?

We don’t want to fail because we don’t want to look bad, we don’t want to be judged.

But what is failure, really? The dictionary defines it as: “a condition or fact of not achieving the desired end or result.”

So, what is the risky inspired action you must take to turn this obstacle into an opportunity?

Is it a conversation you need to have with someone?

Is it asking for help?

Is it enrolling in a class?

Is it balancing your checkbook after being unconscious about your finances?

Is it making a difficult call?

Is it consciously choosing to view a situation in a different way?

Is it taking a stand for what you know is right?

And, if you are like me, this next bold step may feel very scary.

You are being internally nudged to take this step. And you know what will happen if you don’t. The nudge will continue until you pay attention.

So how about being bold now and avoiding all that pain.

In his book The Art of Being, Dennis Merrit Jones writes, “ it is said that when baby birds reach a certain size, their mom begins to line the nest with thorns and sharp sticks as a gentle way of encouraging the baby birds to take to the sky on their own. The message the mama bird is giving to the chicks is Don’t get too comfortable here. Beyond a certain point, there can be no more growth in the comfort of your nest, and if you want to be a hawk and soar with the wind, you have to take the risk, come to the edge and push off.”

What do you suppose might be going through the mother bird’s head as she nudges her chicks out of the nest for their first flight? Is she fearful or concerned for the chicks’ life? Of course not, because instinct drives her actions. She knows that something within her babies knows how to fly. Of course, that something is Divine Intelligence, working at the level of “bird.”

The important awareness is that the very same Divine Intelligence that knows how to make these baby birds soar is working in, through and as you and me. It knows how to make us soar through life, excelling above and beyond where we currently are.

The only difference between the baby birds and ourselves is that we can really resist coming to the edge of our comfort zone, can’t we? We can be afraid to step out of our comfort zone and boldly go forth

“Come to the edge,” he said.
“We can’t, we’re afraid!” they responded.
“Come to the edge,” he said.
“We can’t, We will fall!” they responded.
“Come to the edge,” he said.
And so they came.
And he pushed them.
And they flew.”

(Guillaume Apollinaire)

What’s waiting for you at the edge? I love to hear about it in the comments.

Hi! I’m glad you found this. Something in you clicked on this piece today, and that wasn’t nothing. That small choice already set something in motion.

Maybe you’re looking to grow spiritually. Maybe you’re just curious. Maybe you’re searching for people who think the way you think. Maybe your heart’s a little cracked open right now and you needed some words of comfort. Maybe you’re standing at a fork in your life and you want some guidance on which way to go.

Only you know your real reason, and it doesn’t matter which one it is. The moment you showed up here, life started responding. Something bigger than us is always leaning in, waiting to meet us halfway.

I’ve spent over 20 years doing spiritual work, and I’ve heard a boatload of stories that all prove the same point: something shifts the moment we stop waiting and start moving. People tell me about the leap they finally took, the job they started, the move they made, the dream they finally said out loud. And every time, I get to watch what happens when someone decides to step forward instead of staying put.

The longer I’ve done this, the more I notice a pattern. The people who take that first real step are the ones who keep running into exactly what they needed, right when they needed it.

One of the easiest ways to test that for yourself doesn’t take faith at all. It just takes a pencil.

I believe in writing down your goals, not because the paper is magic, but because writing is itself a form of showing up. Putting pencil to paper turns a wish into an action, and once you’re acting, life has something to respond to.

You might be thinking, “I don’t know what to write down. I don’t even know what I want.” Here’s the thing though: I don’t think it matters much where you start. Because goals shift. Directions will change. What matters is that you start something, because the next right move rarely shows up until we’re already moving.

You can see this same idea on a baseball diamond, where nothing happens until somebody’s willing to step into the batter’s box. Think about a batter stepping up to the plate. They can think about hitting a home run. So can every fan in the stadium. But a home run won’t happen until they actually step into the box. Showing up, however, doesn’t erase the chance of striking out. A great batting average is .300, which means the best hitters in the world fail seven times out of ten and we still call them great. Showing up isn’t about guaranteeing a hit. It’s about being in the box at all.

Even Hollywood knows this. Remember the scene near the end of the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, where Indy has to cross the last of three trials to reach the Grail?

He has come down a narrow stone passage that just stops. Dead end. Below him is a canyon so deep he can’t see the bottom, and on the far side is the chamber holding the very thing that can save his father’s life. The clue in his father’s diary tells him the only way across is a leap of faith. So Indy stands right at the edge, staring down into nothing, breathing hard, clearly terrified, because every ounce of logic he has is screaming that stepping forward means falling to his death. And then, hand over his heart, he closes his eyes and steps out into open air.

And the ground is there. It was there the whole time, a narrow stone bridge camouflaged so perfectly against the canyon wall that it was invisible until he trusted it enough to put his weight on it.

That’s the moment that gets me every time. It’s not that the bridge appeared out of nowhere. It’s that it was already there, and he couldn’t see it until he moved.

Our lives work the same way. Our minds are very good at building a case for why we shouldn’t take the next step off the edge of what’s familiar. But again and again, people discover the same thing Indiana Jones discovered: the ground shows up once you’re already moving toward it.

Here’s one more thing worth noticing: the more attention you pay to this, the more of it you’ll find.. Try it. Listen for the stories people around you tell, like the one about someone cleaning out a closet, wondering what to do with the extra stuff, and then getting a call that same week from a friend asking for donations of exactly that.

Here’s what I know and claim for you. Life is already leaning toward you, waiting for you to show up.

So my question today is: Where in your life are you being asked to show up right now, even without knowing what’s on the other side? I’d love to hear about it in the comments.

Namaste

Someone gets a serious diagnosis. Something life-changing. And they walk out of the doctor’s office into a regular afternoon.

The parking lot. The sky. A bird pecking around in the grass.

Everything looks the same. But everything feels different.

The light hasn’t changed. The air hasn’t changed. But suddenly they can see it, all of it.

Sometimes it’s heartbreak that gets people there. Sometimes it’s fear. Either way, they end up in the same place: realizing their ordinary life was never ordinary. It was extraordinary the whole time.

So here’s what I invite us to think about.

What if we didn’t need to lose something first to see life that way?

All of it, the flowers, the birds, this exact moment, is already ours. Nothing has to be taken from us first.

Most of us live in two places: the past, going over what we should have said, and the future, worrying about what might go wrong or waiting for things to settle down.

We spend a lot of our lives waiting for someday.

We’ll slow down someday. We’ll have that hard conversation someday. We’ll really appreciate the people around us someday.

But the life we’re all wanting isn’t waiting for us out there in someday. It’s here. Right now. We just have to choose to show up for it, even with everything hard going on.

A Simple Practice That Actually Works

I think a lot about practice, the small things we do on purpose to stay grounded. Truth is, if I tried to do every practice I’ve ever come across, I wouldn’t have time left for anything else.

But here’s what I’ve noticed: when I pick just one simple thing and stick with it, things change. Maybe not in a big way, but in small incremental ways that make a difference.

So here’s one to try.

Start in the morning. Before you check your phone, before the news, before the day gets going. Just take one breath on purpose. One breath where you’re actually paying attention to being alive.

That one conscious breath sets the tone for the rest of the day and can pave the way for other simple practices.

Saying a specific thank you instead of a generic one. Actually listening when someone’s talking to you instead of half listening. Noticing the light through the windows when you’re walking through your home.

In Unity teaching, there’s a simple spiritual principle “Where your attention goes, energy flows.” We usually think about that when it comes to our goals. But it works just as well for the life we’re already living.

What Would You Do Differently?

What would change if you actually treated today like the gift it is?

What relationship might you show up to differently? What conversation might you finally have? What moment might you actually stop and notice instead of rushing past it?

I’ve watched people heal from illnesses that could have killed them. More than once. Life went back to what everyone else would call normal.

One person told me something I’ve never forgotten. They said they never wanted to forget what being sick had taught them about being alive.

That’s the invitation for all of us.

We already have everything we need, right here, right now. This moment is all there is. And it’s enough.

What would you actually do differently today if you already knew that? I’d love to hear in the comments.

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