The Precipice

I've been listening to Tony Robbins lately. He's pretty inspiring I have to say. He is also exhausting to watch and to listen to if you ask me. On the other hand I felt that way after a Paul McCartney concert - please, stop, I can't handle any more!

Where do some people get their drive? How do they get the energy to do the things they do? It's obvious these men are living out their passions. They believe in what they do with every fiber of their being - they know they are doing what they are meant and want to do. But that's Tony Robbins and Paul McCartney...

I want to figure this out for us ordinary folk.  It will happen that we find ourselves on the precipice of change. I think that's a very fortunate and important moment to be aware of. We all have the potential for greatness in what ever way we wish to define greatness. Yet in the moment that we realize potential looming just beyond us - over the precipice, just over there - we pull back. And what is that about? Are we too afraid to take the leap? Is it that we are too afraid to fail? Too afraid to live up to what it might be like to succeed? Some tell me they worry about what people might say should they even take the first step to realizing their potential .. and that's not even about failing or succeeding its just stepping out of one's stupor and trying something they want to try!

You have to wonder sometimes at the obstacles we set before us. If we put half the energy into just getting into motion to reach a goal - rather than putting that energy into manifesting the obstacles .. seems to me we would see a lot more fulfilled people living up to their potential. What are the stories we tell ourselves about being able to step up? What are the stories we tell ourselves that hold us back?

I read in a book not long ago - a book about our relationship to money - that people tend to resist, or suffer, when moving from one neighbourhood to another. They used this metaphor to explain the fact that more than 60% of lottery winners end up back in the same place or worse within two years of a win - having moved into another financial "neighbourhood" and not being able to tolerate it.  I imagine its the same for any kind of success - if you come from a particular neighbourhood, and succeeding at what you love potentially moves you out of that neighbourhood - well that can be scary don't you think? Here you are - alone, in unfamiliar surroundings, with people you're not sure are friend or foe, away from your tribe....

But what if our inner voice said - "It's fine, go for it, it will all be good, better even. You're going to love it!" what if THAT's what our voice said instead of "No! Too scary! They all think you'll fail! You'll die alone!" .... I bet if our voice, that automatic, knee-jerk voice, was the latter - we'd be doing more with our life, with our potential, with our energy. I bet if our voice said "This is going to be awesome, let's jump!" - we would reach out and connect with the folks in the new neighbourhood, befriend them, give to them, love and be loved by them ... and grow, and succeed.

The precipice... place of terror or place of excitement? Place to shrink back from or place to seize and grow and thrive? You tell me...