Powerful question, huh.
The other day I spent some time sitting with this question, wondering what I really would dare to accomplish if I knew I could not fail. Some of my answers were pretty typical–cure cancer, achieve world peace, that kind of stuff. Other answers bubbled up from unrecognized depths and surprised me. As I wrote my answers out, I began to see an image of a pretty amazing life. Pretty darn appealing, actually. So why, then would I have all these great things that I’d dare to do if I knew I could not fail and yet keep from pursuing any of them?
In a way, it says a lot about how fear affects our lives. We have dreams held close to our heart, dreams that shape the people we want to be in the world. And yet rather than act on those dreams, we prefer to sit with our imaginary images and admire how pretty they would make the world.
Well folks, life isn’t perfect and neither are we. And if life and we are not perfect, then why should we expect our actions or our outcomes to be so? Why can’t we take a gloriously imperfect step towards what we dream for in life?
Lao Tzu is credited as having said “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Where will your journey lead you? And what first step do you need to take?
(Note: I originally posted this as part of my Imperfect Action Diaries on October 30, 2008. I think it’s time for me to revisit those entries! Thank you, Mary Wig, for contributing a much-needed spark… whether you were aware of it or not!)
What would you dare to accomplish if you knew you could not fail?
