Time to Fly

How long do we sit in anguish watching others use their wings wistfully wishing we could follow them out into the bright blue sky? How much conditioning does it take before we have convinced ourselves of our worth, readiness or ability to take the leap? Who do the voices belong to that say that we can’t?

Leap and the Net will Appear

My friend Christine says this is an old Zen saying, but I first heard it in her song Right Outta Nowhere. Leap and the net will appear, references acts of faith…times when we go forward with our knowing and nothing else.

When I was a child I wanted to know what it was like to fly. I loved watching the birds and I thought the wind on your skin like that…soaring through the air so light on the currents must be the best feeling on earth. I couldn’t sprout wings so I instead learned to pull myself up onto the roof of our one story house where I would creep toward the edge, sit down and try to talk myself into jumping off.

The voice of my mother’s fears would protest in my mind…and she won the battle many times…but anyone who has ever really known me, knows that I possess a persistence.

This persistence kept me on the edge while some deep part of me whispered with quiet confidence that these fears didn’t apply to me, that it was o.k to have the experience. So one day…carried on a wind that was like a great exhale, I unfolded my wings…and took a leap.

The Voices that You Listen to: Do they Belong to You?

I was triumphant in my attempts to be a bird..I trusted the voice that told me I could have the experience and I landed without a scratch, feeling like I had just been embraced by angels and who knows…maybe I had

My curiosity satisfied I moved on to other challenges and new experiences but whenever I caught myself mustering courage or noticed the sound of my mother’s fearful voice ringing in my ears; I remembered the time I sprouted wings…and listened carefully until I could hear the voice inside.

Not every experience is right for every person…it’s a customized journey. Certainly jumping off the roof of a house (from the perspective of most people) is a dangerous and not recommended course of action…but how much of life is considered dangerous by others? And does that mean that it is really is dangerous for you?

What is your inner voice saying to you? What challenges is it encouraging you to face? What experiences does it want you to have? What fears keep you from taking the leap? Are you hearing the voices of others or your own?

Possibility and Potential

The edge is the jumping off place between the two worlds of what is known and what is possible. All it takes to leap into the world of possibility is to let go and know your own potential by seeing your connections to the creative forces of the universe…this is the net that appears, it is always there as a potential. Working with possibility allows creative outcomes to enter your life with powerful harmony…turning the limited into the limitless

Comments

By Slade | Shift Your Spirits on June 13th, 2007 at 8:04 am

Paula,
One of the most difficult yet ultimately life-changing transformations I’ve ever experienced aligns perfectly with your metaphor.

I had spent years in a “chrysalis” reinventing myself while facing challenges to my health and opening my spirit… I emerged from that and found myself on a rock, with a raging river of life rising all around me.

I was terrified! Asking my guides over and over — Where do I go NOW? This is the end of the path, I can’t go back, I can’t keep moving forward, there is no left or right… Where CAN I go? What can I do?

The answer I received — there is only one course to take when you have worked to grow your wings and the ground is disappearing beneath you — You FLY!

Of course…

Richard Bach wrote “What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls the butterfly.”

By Paula Kawal on June 15th, 2007 at 12:13 pm

Slade,

That’s an awesome story…thanks so much for sharing it