Lessons in Leaping

5 years ago, I was in the midst of many leaps. I'd quit my job on Broadway and given up my apartment in New York. I was about to go live in the wilderness of Patagonia followed by time in the Himalayas.

It was a life I never intended. From the age of 13, I was set. I had a plan. I'd go to an arts high school, then go to a competitive college musical theatre program, then tour, then work on Broadway. I achieved all of that and it was wonderful. The parts that weren't wondrous occurred whenever things went off course. I wasn't great at handling things that lay outside the life I'd structured.

I wasn't very tolerant of the unknown. And when folks would tell me to take it easy, let it go, or go with the flow, I'd get incredibly annoyed. When it came to handling unforeseeable demands, I was a complete novice. So how did I go from that to the great leap of wilderness living and Himalaya time?

I practiced.

If you want to be better at leaping into the unknown, you've got to practice it on a daily basis.

That's what our practice is all about. Every time we sit down for a meditation, we're practicing being open to whatever comes our way: thoughts, noise, emotions, sensations, restlessness, depth...it's all okay. We won't be perfect at it. We never have to be. But, just like any other skill, the more we consistently practice, the better we get.

The unknown doesn't have to be terrifying. It's actually the richest, most fertile territory for living our best lives. We can see it as such with a bit of daily practice.