Take the dare
A few years ago, I went to Landmark Forum, a personal and professional growth training program that challenges you to look directly at your life and see where you might be limiting your personal, interpersonal, professional, and creative potential. It was a very intense 3 days of 12-hour sessions in bustling midtown Manhattan. Two hundred and fifty people sat amongst each other in brightly lit rooms and shared about where they have fallen into limiting belief systems, and what tools and techniques could reframe those beliefs. Some of it was mind blowing and some of it was cult-like and intrusive. I did have many takeaways that I still use to this day, one of them being the idea of embracing RISKS.
Landmark defined a risk as, “when we do something we normally wouldn’t do.” While taking a risk, we can reveal our blind spots and learn about ourselves. When taking a risk, there is the potential to create a new way of being.
Some time after Landmark, I had a very impromptu surgery that left me immobile and at home on bedrest for a week. This week, I was left with my thoughts and the broken pieces of my life. This is when I decided to take a risk and set in motion my own little “Eat, Pray, Love” journey to India, Germany and France. I could no longer feel like a helpless spectator in my life. I had to risk my comfort zone to seek something new and more fulfilling.I thought my adventure would be lonely, but instead, it was filled with 17-hour train rides in a distant land, entire conversations made of smiles, dancing in the rain, riding a camel in the desert and sleeping under the stars.This thing that I thought I would never do filled me with such power and belief in the risk of being alive. As Anais Nin writes – “And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”
Every time we show up to the mat, we take a risk. We fall out of a posture and take the risk to get back up and get back in. When we feel shaky, we take the risk of challenging ourselves to be sturdy. We take the risk of following our breath, no matter where it might take us and we take the risk of accepting silence. Our lives are made of tiny risks. This year was made of larger risks. I hope the yoga mat may allow you to feel the immensity of your strength in the face of risk, and the compassion of the community that surrounds you.
ToolBox 🧰
Before you take the dare, consider these 6 truths…
1. Failure is going to happen- failure is a part of life and when it shows up – do you keep going or do you quit?
2. Trust the process- be in the mess, listen to it, and trust why you are doing it
3. Be authentic- don’t do it for someone else, do it for you
4. Make sure you are clearheaded- you are not in a reactive emotional state of being when you are ready to take the leap
5. Fully understand what you are risking- know the stakes
6. This is our one shot at life- Living without regrets at the end of our days
Inspiration Station ✨
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