This morning I happened upon this Ted talk by Anne Lamott titled Twelve Truths I Learned from Life and Writing .
It brightened my day (again, I’ve watched it before) because I agree with so many of her truths, especially the first one, that all truth is paradox. Really all of her truths speak to me and remind me to lighten up.
But today I want to talk about a piece of advice I received in an unusual way yesterday.
Let Yourself Fall
Last night as I was getting out of the bathtub (why then?) after a delicious long hot soak, I heard a little voice in my head say, “Let yourself fall,” and I thought, “Believe me, this is not the time to fall.” Laughter aside, this little sentence continues to reverberate through my thoughts.
I wish I could remember what I was thinking before the thought, let yourself fall, popped into my mind. But of course, I didn’t write it down and now in the clear light of day I have no idea what came before. I remember thinking, “Let myself fall. Oh, that’s interesting. I don’t need to try so hard,” but for the life of me I have no idea what I no don’t need to try so hard to do or not do.
You can’t fly if you don’t let yourself fall.
It doesn’t matter what I was thinking about, this phrase, “Let yourself fall,” is wise advice on a number of levels. I think about things that I’ve striven for in my life, people I tried to please, shoulds that I listened to, and fears of being seen as unworthy or as a failure and I realize that none of that stuff matters to me anymore. The only thing that matters is being kind, expressing my true self, loving well, and experiencing joy. What do humans really really need to thrive? They need love and connection, safety, shelter, sustenance, challenge, belonging, and self-expression.
How do you let yourself fall?
You might let myself fall off your pedestal, fall apart, fall away, fail—and you would still be okay. Following society’s expectations and norms is a sure way to fritter away your life on things that aren’t important. Shed what is false and become what you truly are. Joy almost always lives on the other side of the fear of falling.
I imagine leaves falling off a tree in fall, whirling and swirling in the wind and skinny dipping at night in a velvety dark lake, falling back to look up at the milky way glowing swirling above me.
Falling can be beautiful.
Let Yourself Fall
This fear of heights is unbecoming
So long as you cling to the branch
You will never learn to fly.
Let yourself fall so that
You can discover your wings.
— Marilyn
Does a child learning to walk stop trying to learn because he or she falls? No. The child continues getting up and taking steps despite previous falls because the urge to learn and grow is stronger than the fear of falling.
Let yourself fall so that you can discover your wings.
It all depends upon what you focus on
Instead of focusing on what you are “supposed to be doing” in your life, you might try focusing on the question, “Who am I BEING in my life?” Let your doing arise from your being. The more you express what is inside you the more all of the unimportant doing falls away.
“The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”
May you walk in beauty.
Note: Here are two photographs that illustrate how what you focus on matters. Yesterday a brief rain shower dotted our big living room windows with raindrops. I made two photographs through the same rain drop covered window, one focusing on the raindrops, the second focusing on the tree outside the window. Look at the difference in what you see.
0 Comments