“Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step. “-Martin Luther King, Jr.

Over the weekend, I spent time in the presence of people who collectively have been in my life for eons; some are a group of women with whom I have shared Goddess Gatherings, others part of an interfaith spiritual community, called Circle of Miracles, and still others at a house concert I hosted for my friend Heidi Cooper and her daughter, Deanna. One thing we have in common is that we are all ardent cheerleaders who encourage each other to live the lives of our dreams and desires. Is there a much higher calling than that?

I hear people talking about having naysayers who tell them that they can’t accomplish what they set out to do, that their dreams are just too big and impossible to achieve. It boggles my mind, since my parents told me that I could do anything I set my mind and heart to, as long as I was willing to put the work into it. I have been watching commercials for the upcoming London Olympics while at the gym (other athletes inspire me to put all I’ve got into my workout:), the trials for swimming events. Vicariously standing with them on the starting blocks, heart racing in anticipation, I could smell the chlorine and feel the heat wafting up from the surface of the still water that momentarily would be churning from the combined efforts of the swimmers about to plunge in and make their mark. I was right there with them, most especially during the freestyle and butterfly events, because once upon a time (ages 11-18), I was in the pool for hours a day, with Olympic aspirations. Boxes of ribbons filled my closet and some adorned my walls in the bedroom of my childhood home. My dreams were big enough, alright, my parents’ and coaches’ support solid, but my discipline and commitment weren’t sufficient to have me move aside other interests and so, watching the Games is as close as I got. I wasn’t willing at the time to move forward into that life. Not that the life I had was one I wanted to leave anyway, but you get the picture.

Fast forward several decades and I have just taken a pool depth plunge into a new life, a few weeks ago,  leaving a full time job I went to for 11 years. Yesterday I drove past the grounds of the psychiatric hospital in which I served folks with mental health diagnoses, as well as their families and blew kisses in greeting and gratitude for what I learned there and the co-workers who are still so much in my heart,  in order to live the life of my dreams and desires as a writer and motivational speaker. A bit of uh-oh-what-next-scary feelings arise from time to time, but I am seeing the fruits of that decision blossom, as every day since then, I have been invited to speak, teach, write, interview, be interviewed, and co-create events that are meant to help others move from where they are to where they want to be. Some of these requests for my presence have come from seed planting I have done over the past years, and others, I sense from the energy of surrender of what no longer served me. When we let go of what doesn’t work, we make room for what does, always.

Where is your growing edge?  What are you willing to surrender in order to embrace the life of your deepest dreams and most treasured desires? Transform ‘impossible dreams into I’m possible’ realities.

http://youtu.be/qzScfQzclEE George Bailey by Jana Stanfield