Leaping and Landing

Leap and the net will appear. 

The image connected to this saying is of a lovely woman doing a graceful dive from an obviously high place, perhaps a skyscraper or cliff on the ocean front. She’s silhouetted against a clear blue sky, and made to look like a swan soaring into her future.  There is no tension in her body; her face looks upward with hope and delight. The whites of her eyeballs are covered by confident lids, probably with mascara perfectly applied.  Her expertly manicured hands are gracefully placed to help control her flight like ailerons on a sleek Lear jet. One can almost hear Rhapsody in Blue played as the soundtrack.  True to her promise, a net appears out of nowhere allowing her to land light as a feather. She steps confidently from the net in 3-inch heels . . .

Let’s take a step into reality, shall we?

Fact is, last time I did any soaring it involved swinging from the neighbor’s clothesline pole. Sure that was a long time ago, but I distinctly remember no net appearing to soften my landing. In fact, my landing involved a visit to the emergency room to repair my dislocated elbow. That’s stuff you just don’t forget.

Most of the time leaping, as in taking some kind of risk, is not pretty. There is no mystical net that appears and saves us from smashing our elbows into the ground.

In my art career I have leaped and soared effortlessly. Some days I fight headwinds that leave me feeling like I’m not making any progress at all. Landings have been interesting to say the least; graceful touch-downs and  more than a few thumps and bumps. Every day I hold on to my safe perch and every day I let go. Every day.

There are gaps between the leaping and the landing, and we get to make the rules about how we let go and how we land. Some days we let go effortlessly, some days it's all we can do to peel our fingers from the rail. There's no right or wrong, just the fact that we try. At least in letting go there are possibilities.

©2012 Patricia Scarborough Miletta View 6 x 8 oil Recently Purchased

Many thanks to the kind individual who added a Scarborough original to their collection. That act gives me a little more faith that when I leap I just might land solidly with both feet on the ground.