Many years ago, I took part in a canyoning expedition where our group had to navigate its way through river gorges and down waterfalls by abseiling, sliding, swimming and scrambling.
Occasionally we would reach a gap in the journey, a point where we had to take a leap from a height into a pool or the river below.
At such moments I would stand and think “What if I do?” and “What if I don’t?”
What do you do when there is a gap?
A gap in your knowledge and understanding. A gap in your ability and skills. A gap between where you are now and where you want to be.
What if the gap is not yours but ours? A gap between where humanity is right now and where it has the potential to be. What then?
The question is always do you stand on the edge of the divide and watch the gap grow until it becomes impossible to bridge of do you take a leap?
Taking a leap is risky and often requires great courage. It also requires facing the unknown and recognising that growth comes from challenge and that the biggest growth often happens in uncertain times.
And what holds us all back as individuals, groups or in society is usually fear.
Taking a leap involves making a commitment to ourselves, to each other and to the earth itself.
And yet taking a leap is the only way to experience greater freedom and happiness, to break free from old patterns, habits and relationships that bind us and restrict our ability to soar as individuals and together.
“There is a freedom waiting for you. On the breezes of the sky. And you ask, “What if I fall?” “Oh, but my darling. What if you fly?”
– Erin Hanson –