Learning to Walk

I love to people watch. My favorite humans to observe are actually the smallest ones. Not just because they are adorable but because they show me what life is like through a point of view that has been less affected by human nature. This morning I sit and think about all the times I've seen babies learn to walk. They lift themselves to stand, they look toward the direction of travel,--never at the ground--and they start walking one step at a time. Even though, they have never walked before and have no idea that they can do it, they try. Even though the possibility is great that they will stumble or fall, they still rise to the challenge and try. Even when they do fall and it hurts, they try again. It's amazing how by the time we are 21, many of us won't even give our goals that many tries. Sometimes we give up once we've fallen one time. Some of us don't even pursue our dreams because we are afraid of what will happen if we don't reach our goal or, the adverse, what will happen if we do. I like to think that those unknowns are the beauty of the pursuit. We can never be certain that we will succeed the first time or the second but we can be certain that if we don't give up, our odds are greater than if we never tried at all.

Life is full of unknowns. One morning we wake up and our lives are totally different from how they were 5 years ago or how we thought they would be. We can not be certain of most things in life and most of what we accomplish happens when we take a chance or face the fear that sometimes inevitably comes with the unknown. So how do we get over those fears? How do we face them head on and take the chance that we may not like what lies admist the unseen?

If we take a moment and think from the perspective of those small humans learning to walk, we can see how a little faith goes a long way. Babies look in their direction of travel when learning to walk because they have faith that they will make it there. They don't look at the ground to watch their feet because they are secure in their abilities and don't need reassurance that they have everything they need to succeed at their task. Wow. I am in awe at how they proceed with confidence, even though they can never be 100% sure. If we can learn anything from their faith, we should learn that with uncertainty also comes hope that somewhere beyond our sight, is everything we desire. We just have to proceed forward, knowing that we will be fine if we just try. I challenge you to take a chance at something you've been putting off or meaning to put on your schedule. I don't think you will regret it. A good friend recently reminded me that we don't always regret what we do but we always regret what we wanted to do and never did.

Love and Liberation,
Monique L Brown