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Leaping the Chasm
“The most dangerous strategy is to jump a chasm in two leaps.” – Benjamin Disraeli
My sister in law, the fabulous Helen House, shared this quote with me the other day. It took a few minutes for me to get what the quote was really saying. I had to imagine jumping a chasm in two leaps. Cartoon images came to mind. . .that coyote guy who is always running off the edge of a cliff and finding himself in thin air. . .yeeeeoww. . .Blam! (as he falls to earth in a white puff of panic.)
After a few moments of mulling it over, the clear brilliance of what Disraeli is saying landed fully. I am a jumper of chasms, a transformative change agent committed to growing and evolving human consciousness. . .In myself most particularly.
Still, I notice that I sometimes attempt to jump in two leaps. . . hedge my bets just a little bit so that if the leap turns out to be the wrong thing I can. . .I can WHAT?? Turn around? Make a different choice? Really the insanity of this is something.
And the amount of doubt and second guessing that goes on in that “second leap” is such an energy suck. It is actually QUITE dangerous. With the one leap strategy, I’m on the other side almost before I know I have leapt. All the intensity is in the “pre-leap”. Once my feet are moving, I’m already on the other side of the chasm.
Sometimes that “pre-leap” place becomes so intense that I decide to take the l—o—n—g way across. . .laboriously climbing down one side of the chasm and bushwhacking across the canyon floor and then laboriously climbing up the other side. I feel kind of virtuous with all this laboring, like I worked really hard at something when really, all that was needed was for me to “screw my courage to the sticking place” and leap already.
Someone (perhaps Tom Courry?) told me once, “99% is a bitch and 100% is a breeze”. All of my experience shows that to be true. And yet we human beings can be so inexpressibly, endearingly unpredictable. In one moment I am bold and fearless. . .and in the next moment, the “what ifs” have a hold of me and I’m hedging my bets.
It helps tremendously to have other people around to leap with you. . .who will say, “Okay, here we go together.” That’s part of the gift of Co-active Coaching and also part of the gift of belonging to a community of like-minded leapers.
That’s the point of the Co-active Summit. . .taking that transformative leap across the chasm. . .together. Early bird pricing ends on September 30th. Leap! I know you’ll be glad you did. www.coactivesummit.com.
Love,
Karen
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Jennifer Hanlon
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