The real adventure: YOU

I'm still coasting off the energy of my first post, where it was fun and exciting to sit down and decide, "Now is the time! Just do it!" And the excitement kept encouraging me, "Write that first post, and from there it will just keep going, and one day you will marvel at all the work you created when you look to see how far you have come along!"

And the buzz of starting something new keeps you humming and happy ... until you find that the words don't just come pouring out when you think they should.  There's a certain exhilaration in making the leap, the thrill of starting something new and exciting and all the possibilities of where it might lead, what it will feel like and how happy it will make you – and then at some point you realize that you have to keep that momentum going.

Now comes the reality: the path actually has to be made.  The first step has cast the intent, but the way to your dreams will only continue to appear as long as you continue to make each move.  Your creations are made of everything that follows after the big bang experience, and they won't grow by themselves; you are the engine that powers your vision.

So after step one comes step two; and this is the moment where the innocence of the Fool's journey meets reality and begins to take on a specific form that is like nothing else.  The uncertainty of starting something new is knowing you will see it morph and change, and it usually becomes something that's a little different (or a lot) from what you thought you were creating.  There are many reasons why we refer to our creative projects as our 'children'; one reason is that they grow and develop in ways we could never predict.  They are a part of us, yet uniquely themselves.

You can only have total control over your dreams when they are still dreams ... but when you decide to make them a reality you have to let go a bit.  You acquiesce and allow life to shape your creations as much as you do – and this is where things get interesting!  As your dreams move out into the world, there are bound to be reactions (can't get around it, for every action there is a reaction).  And these reactions will have their impact on you ... thus, the hidden side of your journey is to learn and study what these events bring up for you.

What do you do when life confronts you?  How do you react when life is difficult, boring, or downright mean?  How do you react when things aren't what you thought they would be?

Welcome to the real excitement: to discover and experience the personal journey that only you are on!  The thrills of the future aren't in the flashy moments and the big paychecks and the exotic locales (although those are all nice).  Rather, they are in finding out what lies inside of you, because what you are made of is what your dreams will be made of.  You are actively engaged in bringing your dreams to life; and they are actively engaged in bringing you to life.  In other words, it is the journey itself that becomes your most passionate experience: something that's alive and growing, changing and shifting, just like you and the world around it.

We don’t often realize that what we are creating and building is a process, which is the living and dynamic side to our dreams.  We are usually so caught up with the final image that we forget it is just a mirage; our fantasies are simply focal points to help us navigate the path we create.  Seen this way, the goal is hardly the important part, because it is the living, breathing act of getting to that goal that makes up our lives.  

Our fantasies are lived out during the process of reaching them: you actually touch your dreams through the little everyday details, the small and simple actions that move you along towards that desired outcome.  It’s found in the commitment to keep going when things are difficult, to keep caring when you are tired, and to keep working on every detail, even when the process seems slow and frustrating.  You have to constantly remind yourself that you are living out the active side of the dream right now ... even if it's nothing like what you thought it would be.  The things you do every day are the foundations and the food for your dreams – and if you want your dreams to come true, you had better pay attention to what you are feeding them!

In order to turn our ideas into reality, we have to first give them a form and then fill them with living energy; so the type of energy you bring to your journey is what will give substance to the final outcome.  Knowing this, it is imperative to study and pay attention to yourself along the way.  How do you deal with resistance; how do you deal with frustration, disappointment, or confusion?  Equally important is learning how you deal with success: what do you do with your triumphs, your achievements, and your joy?

There is so much that we learn about ourselves from letting these dreams take form, because there is so much yet to be encountered.  In the same way that you have an ideal version of your dream, you have an ideal version of yourself, and until this is confronted and challenged, you can't see it for what it is.  Just as life will influence and define your creations, it will be doing the same to you.  You will be changed and transformed by the time you reach your destination, and your path will have shaped you as much as you shaped it.

This should be what gets you excited enough to keep putting one foot in front of the other, this is what provides the energy for that engine of creation!  You are actively discovering yourself in every little action, in every decision you make along the way, and you discover yourself in your lowest moments and your highest achievements.  Ask yourself, what are you shaping, what kind of dream are you bringing into the world?  And then what is the world bringing out of you, how are you being shaped by your dreams?

It's always so exciting to look towards the future, and think of all that has yet to be discovered!  Every day we stand a little higher on our platform of understanding, with a little more clarity and knowledge from the foundation of our efforts.  Don't stop building that platform, and don't stop reaching towards those beautiful visions!  Because whatever you are doing right now is the real adventure, and it’s waking you up to who you are.  The joke played on us is that we think we are creating our dreams; when in reality, we are creating ourselves.

So don't go back to sleep: don't give in and don't give up.  Our dreams require us to be awake and paying attention, because they can't manifest on their own.  You're interacting with and living out your visions all the time, it just requires a little effort to raise your head and notice the marvel of the journey.

For it is a marvel: this very moment is the meeting point of dream and reality, of action and reaction, of past and future.  Don't ignore it.  Don't let it pass by unnoticed.  Staying aware of this moment is the wildest ride of your life ... welcome to the journey that is YOU.

first post ... let's do this

Yay!   First post!

Thought I should get this out of the way and see what it feels like to finally start posting my writing, since there always has to be a first step.  Once that imprint has been made, then the rest will come following, much like footprints in the sand ...

There is a beautiful quote by the poet Rumi, "As you start to walk out on the way, the way appears." 

The thing about a path in the sand is that it isn't seen in front of you, but is perfectly visible when you turn around.  Everything in life follows that same wandering, where the path becomes clear once the steps are all in place; but when you are facing forward, looking at the clean and untouched expanse of sand, you can step anywhere, create any sort of path you want.  Your pattern and trajectory only become clear once you pause and turn around to look at where you have been and what you have seen.

Kind of apropos that I should post my inaugural blog entry on April Fool's Day, symbolically represented by 'the Fool' in the tarot deck – a perfect example of blithely starting a new venture, with all the freshness and optimism of an early morning sunrise.

The Fool's journey has yet to be written, and there are any number of twists and turns to be encountered, yet the moment of beginning is the focus here.  The Fool is symbolic of getting past the initial hesitancy to create something new.  It's overcoming the fear of the blank page, or the clean canvas – and the fear is not just that you don't know what to create, it is equally about what you will not create.  It's the hair-trigger moment where you make your first move, and then what was once full of endless possibilities becomes distinctly itself, and nothing else.

The fear of the blank page isn't always that you don't know where to start, but that you also don't know what to leave out ... and what you don't say is just as important as what you do say.

So here's to making that first step, that first foolish gamble to try something new and see where it takes you ...  here's to placing your creations out into this world of ours: this beautiful, crazy place!