Musing

today’s Musing written and published from south Calgary, near Fish Creek Park

walk report: -11C/9F, a single star lit a moonless sky, we walked by the lagoon – it looks like moonscape from freeze/thaw and critter traffic

risk and fear may not be siblings, but they are closely related; I believe our drive to conquer a problem, reach a goal or experience an adventure is not so much about the challenge of the moment, but a surface ‘risk’ symptom of a deeper fear

“It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.”- Sir Edmund Hillary (he died yesterday)

I don’t know what Hillary feared - but it certainly wasn’t a tall mountain; not everyone needs a Grand Canyon to cross or an Everest to climb to be challenged, to take risk or to achieve something - climbing the highest peak or crossing the widest canyon cannot match the challenges many of us face in our daily lives nor could the exhilaration match the elation of overcoming an immovable force that limits someone’s ability to function whether it be a babe standing to walk for the first time or someone re-learning how to function when health altered their ability to accomplish what so many of us take for granted

at a meeting last night we talked about risk – discussing personal experiences, attitude and fear; the underlying point being that life and every element of it carries risk whether we want to address it or not; if the risks of folly are about the same whether we sit on the sidelines or jump into the fray, why not leap?

try this: make a list of the three things you are most afraid of – tape it to a wall or your computer screen or the bathroom mirror; just three things, then – describe out loud what risk you need to take to conquer those fears

leap over a fear - go over the edge, off the cliff . . or to some small peak across the room; fear leaping will never become an Olympic sport, but it can take us over our largest obstacles to the greatest heights

Mark Kolke
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... with your voice, teach in order to learn


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