I was watching a young boy try to get off a bench and noticed that he was holding on for his dear life. He was clearly scared of falling but the funny thing was that the floor was only 6 inches away, he just didn’t know it. 

He was holding on and crying, scared to let go but when his father helped him down, he realized it was only a short distance. He went on to run around and have fun and seemed to have forgotten about the whole experience. 

It was interesting to watch because there are so many times in life where we feel that we are far away from our goals. We think they are hard to achieve and we have to work very hard to get there. There may be something that we’re holding onto and don’t really want to let go. We may have a fear of failing and not being able to get up or we may be afraid of a change even though what we are holding onto isn’t serving us.

Looking over my life, I can find instances where this rang true. Eventually, I came to a point where  despite my fear, I needed to just let go and see what would happen. Sure I could fall (and at times I did) but more often than not, what I was trying to achieve was actually a lot easier than I originally thought. 

It was the constructs in my mind that kept me from seeing how close I really was. 

It was because of my beliefs that made it hard to see but when I looked in a different direction I could get a glimpse that my destination waIs actually right beside me. I noticed that over the years I had built up walls and mental blocks that stopped me from seeing what was right in front of my eyes. 

As I got older and wiser, I began to notice that within me (and all of us) is a place that is untouched by failure. When I work from there I don’t need to have that fear of letting go because I know I will always be supported. Even if I fall I know I will be able to get up because that is the nature of the world.  

We all share a piece of the eternal and the more we are able to recognize it, the less we have to worry about the things that seemingly set us back.

Experience has taught me that we can often say after the fact that it was the setbacks that propelled our growth and without them we wouldn’t be where we are today. 

Now when I’m holding onto something and afraid of falling I ask myself, is the floor closer than I think? Is there another way? Maybe there is something that I’m not seeing from this viewpoint? What will really happen if I let go? Where do my fears and disappointments come from? So what if I fail?

I also know that if I stay true to myself and the divine piece within], that the journey will be good. I may not know the final destination but I know that wherever I end up will be exactly where I need to be.