Sep

WALKING

There are better things ahead than any we leave behind.
-C.S. Lewis-

In last months newsletter I talked about moving outside of our familiar zones, ‘our boxes’. I’ve heard from quite a few of you that you are finding that your “boxes” seem to be expanding and collapsing on their own! It isn’t the easiest choice knowing that your life will change, not only beyond what feels familiar but also beyond what you may believe is controllable. I’ve thought a lot, since that last newsletter, on ways to experience this transition more comfortably. After all, who says that transitions have to be uncomfortable experiences?

My inner voice spoke up and asked me “Do you remember learning how to walk?” At first I thought it was a pretty ridiculous irrelevant question. But the truth was I didn’t remember. Learning to walk is perhaps the most monumental event in most peoples’ life yet it is one that we don’t remember. Those fortunate enough to have been around young children get to witness this wonderful event. The moment a child grabs onto something and pulls itself up to stand, every adult in the room begins to smile and applaud not only for the child’s accomplishment but the joy on that child’s face is absolutely contagious. The act of a child getting off its knees to stand begins the transition between being totally dependent to developing new levels of freedom in movement.

The child for a while needs help in navigating its’ environment and there are moments that bring cries of dismay and tears of having not successfully achieved its’ goal of staying upright and in movement. But every child eventually gets up to answer that call of mobility by stepping forward, pausing, often falling and pulling itself up to step forward again. It is not long before that child is not only staying on its’ feet but is running, climbing and jumping. With time they are able to develop skills that enable them to use other forms for a greater ease and freedom in movement: bicycle, automobile, airplane, whatever they desire! But by the time they develop these skills they have become like us…they have forgotten the day that they began to walk.

Perhaps we have forgotten this monumental achievement because we have experienced so many wonderful things as a result of walking that it is easy to over look how limited our experience was when we crawled. Or perhaps the memory of a young child is not sufficiently developed to remember crawling. Perhaps there is in every child an innate

alarm-system that impels the child to stand up, and without consciously realizing the significance, begins the journey of stepping into a new environment of freedom. Perhaps a child doesn’t experience the transition as a challenge but as a wonderful adventure. So instead of fear they only feel excitement. Could it be that a child “knows” that if it stumbles and falls there will be someone who comes and picks them up, kisses the hurt, stands them back on their feet and assures them that everything is fine? Unfortunately, we will never know why we have forgotten because we don’t remember.

I believe that learning to walk is no different than moving beyond our boxes. There is an innate/intuitive part of us that knows when it is time to get off of our knees and move beyond the limited space that we have been experiencing. We can trust that as soon as we get on our feet that we can run, jump, climb and achieve our hearts desires. If we stumble and fall God (universal goodness) will be there to pick us, love us and assure us that everything is fine. We can chose to let go of the fear and instead look for the excitement in the adventure. We will learn to navigate our new environment step-by-step, one step at a time. In time we will have forgotten the box that, even though familiar, kept us limited. So how do you make it comfortably through the transition of change? Just keep on stepping there are better things ahead!