Making A Leap of Faith to Live Your Dreams

Last updated on February 26th, 2023 at 01:52 am

Taking a leap of faith is what has enabled me, so many times, to live so many of my dreams.

It’s time to make another quantum leap now.

To show myself that I can do anything, to show my commitment to my dreams, and make a symbolic leap, I’m going skydiving later this week. Eek!

Another Leap of Faith

Any time that I have ever shifted my life in a profound way, it required a leap of faith.

Following my intuition and doing things that scare me has inevitably turned out to be a great adventure, and helped me to expand my world.

What I have found along the way is that the universe always supports me when I leap. I love this quote by Patrick Overton: “When you have come to the edge of all light that you know and are about to drop off into the darkness of the unknown, faith is knowing one of two things will happen: there will be something to stand on or you will be taught to fly.”

Doing What Our Heart Calls Us to Do

I was terrified when I started my own business years ago.  I’d been working part-time at a local community college, and that felt secure.

Yet it was right after 9/11 that I realized that life is too short to not do what we most want to do. It’s too short to not leap. That started me on a path of doing all kinds of things I love and working for myself. I feel so blessed to do this. Many of my world travels have come about because an opportunity arose (a friend getting married in Jordan, my sister renting a cabin in the rainforests of Costa Rica, and getting the opportunity to teach with my spiritual teacher in India).

I have been so blessed to travel extensively on four continents and it partly came down to me just being willing to leap when the time came to leap. I know that we all are given opportunities to make the most of life.

I Left My Heart in San Francisco

Moving to San Francisco in the first place was a leap, as was leaving my husband when my heart told me to leave, despite being scared of being alone again at 34.

Staying in San Francisco when my job contract ran out was another leap of faith. My apartment sublet was up and I had no work and very little in savings. But I knew I didn’t want to leave this beautiful city, So I started looking for work and places to live, trusting that it would work out for the best.

One day I was having tea with a graduate school friend, and without me having mentioned my situation, she asked me out of the blue, “Do you want to move in with me?”

She lived in a palatial home in Pacific Heights and since her husband and daughter were overseas, she was there by herself. She didn’t even charge me rent to live there, and I stayed for a few months until I found a new place.

I kept looking for work and then the universe delivered in the most magical way, and when I relaxed just followed my gut. I decided to go have lunch one day under the palm trees to take a break from the job search. I ended up wandering down to a little tea shack by the water at Crissy Fields. A weathered sailor with a leathery face invited me to sit down at a picnic table of men. I sat next to two businessmen, who engaged me in conversation.

I was wearing my Harvard baseball cap and they had also graduated from Harvard. They were looking for a strategic planner, which is part of what I do, and they invited me in for a meeting that same day.

Learning from All of It 

Of course, there have been times as well when I didn’t leap right away – I am far from being perfect and sometimes have gotten caught in my own stories and lived in my mind, instead of just boldly creating what I want in the world. Sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in our own little fictional story about what we can or cannot do when actually we are far more powerful than we often realize.

The good news is that has made me appreciate the opportunities I do have even more and ask myself: am I making the most of this beautiful day? And when the time comes I will jump. I am a fan of leaping and believe that it will make us happiest in the future if we leap now and do what our heart truly calls us to do.

Taking a Daily Risk

In her book The Joy Diet, Martha Beck talks about taking a “daily risk.”

She writes, “A daily risk… will expand your horizons, your confidence, your relationships, your achievements, and your happiness so much that in time, you will go looking for the next shiver of apprehension that says you have reached the boundary of your comfort zone. You’ll be please to reach the cusp between daring and fear, because you’ll know from experience that’s where all the magic happens.”

What risk can you take today to move you a little closer to your heart’s desires and dreams?

As Eleanor Roosevelt said, “You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” Take a deep breath and jump.

And They Flew  

“Come to the edge.”

“We can’t. We’re afraid.”

“Come to the edge.”

“We can’t. We will fall!”

“Come to the edge.”

And they came.

And he pushed them.

And they flew.

Guillaume Apollinaire, 1880-1918