Sometimes the hardest thing to do is begin. We can create an idea, build up a world, envision what we want, where we’ll end up, where we want to be…but when it comes to taking that one first step, that one first action in our desired direction…we pause, paralyzed by fear, frustration, futility, or self-doubt.

We hesitate in taking that first step, instead becoming preoccupied with the growing mountain of clothes on the floor, the dinner that we need to be making, or the comfortable, reliable parts of an unpleasant and uncomfortable existence. In short, we postpone, procrastinate, and delay. We stall…and justify that stalling over and over again with words of platitude, words of declination, or thoughts of mistrust, disinterest, and doubt…

It is only when we can’t avoid it any longer, only when the pressure becomes too great, the ignorance too strong, do we rise and push past our fear, trounce past our frustration, and make that first step across the threshold to where we wish to be…where we dare to act, where we follow that dim glimmer of hope of a new reality.

It is then, in the wake of that first step, in the glow of incredulity and guided by a budding sense of wonder, do we see….do we realize that the hardest part wasn’t taking action: It was putting a hand out to touch the barrier, that restraining wall, only to find it was never really there. For in the end, we realize that taking action wasn’t that hard…

…Believing it was possible was.

And once we see that, once we realize that all we needed was “mere” belief and trust, we allow ourselves to enter a whole new world…

…one of intentional creation.

On Being First

Whenever you start–whether the first step on a long road or the first step on a new journey–there always comes hesitation, a bit of fear, and self-doubt.

Did I make the right decision?

Did I examine all the options?

Is this the best course of action?

Did I leave anything out?

Am I really capable of doing this?

Do I really have what it takes?

The doubts and fears run rampant, almost to the point of paralysis. Yet it is in that very moment one must press on. One must put down that upraised foot and trust that whatever happens from this point forward, one will fare well. It’s the greatest hope one can ask for–to…fare…thee…well–and to survive.

And you WILL.

Namaste.