Courage

Recently I had a friend tell me how brave she thought I was. I was really surprised at her comment and asked her what she meant. She began to go down a laundry list of things I've done over the past few years, including teaching English in Indonesia, owning my own clothing store, becoming a Yoga teacher and developing Yoga With Your Dog to name a few of my eclectic life choices. Although a little flattered, I was amused because I had always thought my well traveled path was a little flight of fancy. And although I've always experienced some success with almost everything I've put my mind to, there have been many times I've felt that I was just a couple of steps away from traveling down the path of "the ne're-do-well".

So after more discussion I guess what she meant is I have the courage to follow my heart. Huh. Well that's kinda cool and I like that idea because it makes my career wander-lust seem so romantic. Although to be honest, I haven't always been able to close my eyes and jump into the deep end, but I've been able to work up to it because a fearless life has always been in my nature as I believe it's in every one's nature. For some the instinct is just a little closer to the surface and others need to dip their big toe into life first to test the waters.

Don't get me wrong I definitely have days, weeks when I feel afraid of what's around the corner. This Dog Yoga stuff has been a huge test of faith in myself, my abilities and my interaction with the Universe. The process of writing a book and now trying to get it published has been an amazing test of faith and continues to be so.

But part of courage is getting accustomed to the beautiful mystery of life. And being able to watch it unfold without too much panic of drowning in the unknown. It gets easier, soon we learn to tread water and then swim along with life's current. And then when we learn that we can change the current of our life that's when we begin to really swim swiftly and easily. It's just taking that first jump into the deep end and allowing ourselves to be swept along for awhile until we learn to swim with the currents of life.

I guess what I'm trying to say is: Go ahead and take that plunge into the deep end, the water is fine, you don't need to do the perfect back stroke straight away, have faith that you will learn to swim and the courage to know that even if you struggle a little for breath, you won't drown, you have all you need to keep yourself afloat.

P.S. Enjoy the above picture of my courageous dogs, they never seem to get nervous in front of a camera or a crowd and they have always known how to swim!