When you ask yourself “Why not?” you may find yourself in motion, across a vivid and unpredictable landscape, over impossible mountains and beyond the deep blue water’s edge, where you surprise yourself, once and for all, by getting wet. – Momma Zen

I’m flying over the ocean, across a vivid and unpredictable landscape, over immense peaks, impossible heights and unfathomable distance. I’m coming home from an island retreat, and although I didn’t quite take to the surf like some in my family did, I went far enough to get wet.

Our lives are always calling us to step out from an island retreat and into the water. Beyond our false and insular views of “me, my, I” and into the ocean of true reality, true connection. Farther than the familiar edge that halts us, and through the question that dissolves all fear: why not?

Initiative is what takes you everywhere. There is never an absence of information in our lives. There is as much inspiration as sand. But we are all plagued by a shortage of initiative, like surfers stuck on shore, waiting for waves that will never come far enough to transport them forward.

Thanks to Terri Fischer and Julie Rowntree Bartel, I’ll be in Brookfield, Wisconsin on Saturday, August 21. I’ll be at YogAsylum giving an afternoon workshop. I’ve never been there, but I hear that Brookfield isn’t that far from Milwaukee (15 minutes) or Madison (an hour). For that matter, it’s not that far from Chicago (90 minutes). Some would say it’s close to Iowa City, Cedar Rapids or even Indianapolis. All I know is it’s not too far for me. Go to this website, scroll to the bottom of the page, and click the More Events  link to register.

Thanks to Mindy Tsonas and her husband Alex, I’ll be in Boston on Saturday, September 18 leading my first Mother’s Plunge on the east coast. Naturally, we’ll be on the waterfront. Inevitably, we’ll get wet.  Registration is now open.

Terri, Julie and Mindy all did the inconceivable. They took a bit of information, added a dusting of inspiration and then took the next step. The next step is the only step that matters.  Like a wave, it lifts you up and into the ride of your life. Whatever distance you think you can’t cross, I promise you, it’s not that far to the water.

We need to push further, to take an immense leap all the time. Sometimes, looking back, we wonder why we are doing all this, and sometimes we think, why not? –Trungpa Rinpoche, True Perception: The Path of Dharma Art

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