risky, frisky? absolutely
When/where am I a risk-taker? When/where am I more risk averse?
Greetings!
Hey, any chance you know the OG storybook version of Toot & Puddle?
If no, I'm gonna encourage you to head to your local bookstore and sit down to read their initial story--maybe as one of your forays into PLAY?
[Since our last newsletter, I've been playing in small spurts and am now eyeballing a full day of PLAY later this week. For me, this is an EEK!-- What about you, dear reader? #BabySteps]
Anyway, Toot and Puddle's story's themes--friendship & acceptance, travel & connecting through correspondence, and RISK diversity--make for an enjoyable, adventurous ride (ages 4+) any time, but perhaps most especially at this time of year--when the season of the MAIDEN is unfolding all around us.
Toot savors world travel, exploring new experiences (e.g. camel riding & artic partying & deep sea diving), being dropped into new cultures, and trying all the new foods. He's pretty much the poster kid for #RiskTakersUnited. Sky diving, anyone?
Puddle, not so much. Instead, he finds great pleasure in taking much smaller, more conservative risks within the confines of what is familiar and close to home. (e.g. swinging over & then plunging into the local pond and trying out some new ice skating moves on the newly frozen ice. Wanna stay here & make maple syrup together?
It all makes me wonder about you and me, dear reader, as we practice becoming Well-Seasoned in the midst of Spring/the Season of the Maiden--you know, the time of getting our juices flowing, getting our energy rising, getting our zing zinging and our shimmy shimmying? Yeah, that season.
Is your daily life more Toot-ish or Puddle-ish right now?
It's a tough question to ask, especially in the CRAZY that is the new norm post (mid???) pandemic. In the midst of the horror of what is happening in Ukraine right now. I mean, we are craving peace & certainty and stability & everything that is non-crazy.
But, I've been doing this work long enough to know that we only have THIS MOMENT--crazy as it may be.
And in this moment--just as it is-- we are invited to really be HERE, not rejecting anything--not even the crazy. Not even the unjust & horrible. We're invited to remember what has always been here--beneath & above & surrounding the crazy.
And what has been here, in the wind and the water and the wood--most especially in Spring is RISK TAKING--in all it's scary, thrilling, life-affirming, fertility-generating instinctive goodness.
That photo collage at the beginning of this newsletter? Embodied risk for sure.
The peacock takes a risk when he majestically and dramatically sweeps open his iridescent, glorious fan of tail feathers in the hopes that the peahen will take favorable notice.
The dandelion takes a risk to SHOW UP in lemony yellow blossoming brightness--right there, in the midst of the crazy that is sidewalk traffic.
The cicadas in my area take a big 17-years-in-the-making risk when they push to the surface in hopes of singing their song and practicing their fertility rites (all over the place!!) #Summer2021
And human beings take a risk when they take steps into adulting, plunging themselves into what is new and fresh and scary and thrilling and ready to blossom.
I've found this work of being Present to what IS--including my natural risk-taking instincts--to be awkward. And thrilling. And messy. And scary. And far from perfect. But it can also be oh-so very beautiful. And it is exactly how our stories are transformed. It seems to come down to choosing our hard, right? And, I choose this. Every day and twice on Sundays.
So, you and me. More Toot-ish or Puddle-ish right now? Let's remember, our answer is NOT about getting it right or wrong; it's about getting clarity about where we are, and then getting curious about how freely our Risk-Taking instinct is thawing out from Winter & flowing into the NOW.
I mean, we don't want to overload our risk-taking instinct to the point that we're exhausted and depleted and becoming real-life adrenaline junkies (being careless with what needs to be cherished), but we also don't want to block our risk-taking impulse so that it gets repressed, shamed, and congested (you know, constipated--which is the very opposite of what we're going for!).
The goal is to practice regular risk-taking FLOW, beginning right where we are. Pulling back slightly if we're Toot-ing too often and Pushing forward slightly if we're over-Puddling.
(Reading the above paragraph makes me laugh--boy oh boy, does “tooting” and “puddling” sound funny, but I'm determined to carry our established Toot and Puddle vocabulary all the way through. It's a matter of consistency, people!)
So, here's to us, beginning right where we are, asking ourselves--Where in my day-to day life am I intentionally practicing risk-taking? Where might I be unconsciously avoiding/overdrawing on my risk taking instinct?
And then “springing”/Maidening into action to embody all the gifts of our wild and precious lives. Somehow, doing this work together in community adds the extra dash of seasoning-oomph that makes it all so much MORE. Thank you for being here!
