Sunday, January 29, 2012

Breaking down Barriers

Pilot, Chuck Yaeger broke the sound barrier in his experimental bell X-1 plane in October, 1947. When he landed his plane, reporters asked him what it was like to be the first man to break the sound barrier. Yaeger replied that just before the barrier was broken, his plane experienced loud noise and violet shaking. After, there was an eerie quiet.

This description made me realize that whenever we are breaking a barrier in our lives, the preceding sense of chaos (shaking of our world) can be experienced as scary or a prelude to the fact that we are breaking into new, un-charted territory. Can you look back in your life and recognize this change point? Did you address it with awe or fear or maybe a bit of each?

When we ask for something new to manifest in our lives, we are, in effect, breaking into new territory or from our frame of reference breaking our own sound barrier. No doubt we might experience chaos before the dawn breaks into new life. You are leaving behind the old to establish something new. Are you shaking on the inside? If it seems like chaos, it could be a sign that it is working. That is when “staying- power” really counts. Or, do you run when the chaos begins?

It takes courage and willingness to stay with your process. Does the end result seem worth it? If not there is hesitancy. If what you are shooting for is unclear to you, then step back and ask yourself, what is this all about?

People come to me all the time wanting a new career or relationship experience. Often they don’t realize that when you want to break through an old barrier of doing things the way they have always been done, there is a certain soul-searching requirement at hand.

What is it you truly want – greater expression, freedom, connection, peace or joy? Decide ahead of time what it is you seek. This will give you the vision and supply the determination to keep going. Any time you are breaking through a barrier, you are entering the unknown. (It is unknown territory to you.) Are you ready; is your vision clear; do you really want this? If you answer in the affirmative, you just might be ready to proceed.