One Way to Gather Your Strength and Courage
Now is a good time to take calculated risks. Norms are shattering and altering, making creative frontiers more available.
I wrestle my heavy backpack out of Jay’s car. It’s loaded down with three days of water for a vision quest three months in the making. My Native American friend has guided me through several purification rituals and sussed out my intentions prior to this moment.
Now he drives off leaving a trail of dust, flashing a peace sign and hollering out “You know what to do. Follow your heart. See you in four days.”
I’m in the middle of nowhere, searching for my name from the Great Spirit, not the one I was bestowed at birth. I will fast for three days and nights as I camp in isolation with only a sleeping bag for shelter. It’s a risk in many ways.
Even though dawn is fresh, summer heat begins to rise from sand and sagebrush atop the mighty Colombia River’s steep cliffs of columnar basalt. After bushwalking for more than an hour, my body makes an instinctive turn down toward the river. I am drawn toward a buzzing I hear in the rock’s steep crevice.
Wild bees have formed an exposed colony. My heightened senses listen and watch their work until I feel a sudden pull in my gut. A rush of blood suddenly leaves my womb. My menses has arrived two weeks early and I have nothing to stop the flow. Life surprises me once again.
I find my spot on a ledge above a small sandy beach allowing me to safely dip in the strong current and give up on clothes. I sit naked on the sand as my body purges and prepares for a mystery still awaiting.
Tracing the tracks in my area, I realize wild animals come here to drink at night. Will I be safe? Darkness descends, revealing a lit up cosmos streaked with shooting stars. I am high from fasting but take carefully monitored sips from my daily ration as I lie back, dropping rapidly into a world of dreams.
Two days pass in peace without nocturnal visitors or even many boats on the water. On the third day, I search for stones that call me and consciously create a medicine circle. I will sit in the center, maintaining vigilance this last night, calling for my name if it’s meant to come.
A crescent moon glimmers, as stars continue their enthralling dervish dance. In the deepest, pre-dawn dark, a slight sound on the cliff’s edge alerts me. I shift my gaze. There she stands, a female coyote warily watching the intruder on her turf. We lock gazes as her nose twitches and tail flickers, trying to figure out this new smell in her path.
“Ho Coyote,” I softly whisper. “Are you the bringer of my name, sweet totem animal? We are the same after all. Insatiably curious. Willing to take risks and be the fool. Watching our backs in the process.”
Having determined I am no threat, she sits back on her haunches until rising and detouring down to the river, keeping her eye on me as she slates her thirst. She circles back much closer and my senses start singing a new song. As she disappears into the night, there it comes — my name.
STRONG IN COURAGE
My entire body receives it and begins vibrating with joy. Yes, that’s it!
I am overflowing with energy and have no difficulty staying awake until the sun greets me in rising over the clifftops. I relish my last sip of water and pack up my now light, meager belongings.
The pungent smell of sage accompanies a sudden boom of thunder over Rattlesnake Mountain. A dark cloud warns me rain is on the way. Gentle drops begin pinging my skull the very moment I spot Jay pulling up in his car.
He has a massive grin on his face and shoots out of the car, opening the door for me in the sudden deluge. We face each other in the front seat and he exclaims “You have your name!”
“How do you know?” I inquire. He points to the sky. “The rain. It’s the Great Mother’s blessing on your successful journey.”
I share this story to encourage your development of the strength and courage required to expand your comfort zones. Resilience and trust are necessary when embarking on an unknown path. To gain it, we need to be willing to let life point out our path instead of futilely attempting to plan it all out.
New paradigms are demonstrating our notions of normal are altering, leaving some of us confused. Maybe there has never been a normal. What a relief for the creatives amongst us.
We might discover our illusions and conformity to false notions are no longer serving us in any way. This period of chaos and disassembling calls out for a new era of calculated risk-taking. Will you seize the day?
What are your dreams and how will you follow them?
People have often asked me how I found the courage and strength to embark on my non-traditional path. The answer is actually quite simple and clear. Start somewhere. It doesn’t have to be a big leap and in fact, it seldom is.
Are you going to run a marathon after training for a week? Good luck. The endurance required is only granted after a steady, prolonged build-up of muscular strength and mental preparedness.
When I realized I was a born Explorer I understood I had to pave the way to grander flights by exercising my wings before leaving the nest. I wanted to trek globally but first gained confidence by launching out on small trips in the U.S.
I initially traveled with friends but gradually gained courage and one day decided to get on a plane and fly solo into a land where no one knew my name or spoke my language. Encountering one fear after another, they steadily became easier to dispel.
When I started my business, my first yoga class had one student, my partner. A week later there were ten. A month later twenty. Soon the classes were booming and feeding into my other professional skills.
So many people delay their dreams or feel they can’t take them on because they don’t know where to begin. Start small. If the fit is right for you, a natural expansion will create a new platform and strengthen your abilities to take on more and move further in your pursuit.
You have to trust this process and know that even if it fails, you will have allowed yourself to experiment and now know what doesn’t work. That information is vital and as essential as your successes.
Our backbone becomes stronger through taking on challenges rather than using fear to justify our reluctance to embark.
Who is the loser if you can’t summon your courage and remember you have the strength to deal with obstructions in your path? You and only you.
One by one, we can pick those obstacles up and toss them about like a dog wrestling a bone. Personal tests arise to be met, not backed away from, leaving fear to dictate your life.
Once your spirit knows you are up to the task, unforeseen opportunities crop up to show you that you’re on the mark. Difficulties will continue to announce their presence, but strength and courage will flow as you steadily deal with them and integrate new capabilities.
A growing belief in yourself accompanies each hurdle you clear, cheering you forward to a new frontier. Buts and if only becomes a dialogue from your past and will no longer wield the same power. Your language alters to how and when you can make something happen, rather than I wish I could.
My life has been immensely enriched by taking leaps of faith and risking failure as much as success. Do you want to reach the latter season of your life knowing you didn’t embody the courage to meet your self as a maker? Are you strong enough to pass your finger through the candle’s flame?
Wet it first and you won’t get burned, my friends. Bolster your courage and be brave enough to access your visions. I guarantee the unexpected will greet you and the new ground will be broken. You may suffer in the process but it will be minor compared to shelving your dreams.
Hidden treasures lie beyond any notion of norms and beckon slightly beyond your pale. Be bold, set forth, make new waves and take calculated risks. You might end up surprising yourself, most of all.
I’m turning 70 next month and quite amazed I’m still alive to tell the tale, but oh so glad to still be running the learning track. Strong in Courage, yep, that works as an epitaph for my crazy ass, risky, immensely rewarding life. So be it.