Imagine, if you will, a performance of aerial silks. The performer moves her body in and around the long silk fabric hanging from a very high ceiling with fluidity and grace. She creates shapes with her body and the silk that seem to be living sculpture and then holds them for all the world to see. You see the strength, but it somehow all seems so effortless.
We are often entranced by those who are brilliant at what they do, who make the effort-full seem effortless. And in that entrancement, we forget the individual steps that person has taken to get there. We chastise ourselves for not being at the same level more quickly, for feeling the effort.
The stunning aerial performer does not start from a place of grace & fluidity & living sculpture. First, she simply learns how to take the first step in climbing the silk. And that can sometimes be awkward and very far from graceful.
The brilliant speaker or consultant or entrepreneur didn’t pull a ready-made business out of her pocket. First, there was an idea. Then a breakdown of small steps to bring that idea into reality. And perhaps some failures & falls mixed in.
If a journey consists of a thousand steps, there is a massive breadth of experience in those steps, each one with something to learn from.
Harkening back to one of our very first posts & the quote from Eckhart Tolle, “There is always only this one step.” There is brilliance in that.
Enjoy the journey.
