Been thinking a lot about sailboats. They’re not good for anything without the wind, are they? Nope. They’re rather long and narrow and not as pretty as many other boats when the sail is down. Ah . . . but when the sail is up and the wind is caught, then they shine, don’t they? What makes a sailboat “go”? The wind, of course, and that’s something completely out of your control. Well, not completely. You do need a wind, but how you use the sheet to trim the sail shows your skill and experience level.
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| Full of potential, but nothing is happening. |
And this is what I’ve been thinking about: what makes things go. What is the wind the lifts our sails--in the figurative sense? For each of us it’s different. For me, it’s inspiration to write a
particular piece. For others it might be
a project idea, a job well done, a feeling of love and adoration, an intense
desire for an outcome, etc. But there’s
always something that fuels us, and
that something begins like the wind, which means its beginning is beyond our
control. Inspiration, love, adoration, desire,
etc., are things you cannot consciously “dial up” and cause to happen. They just
. . . happen. We could write
volumes about where they come from, but suffice it to say that we are not the
original authors.
So now you’ve got your inspiration, idea, desire, etc., now
you have the motivation, now you have your wind. Now
you’ve got the power! But what you
do with that wind, that power, in the sail of your heart will determine your
happiness. It is not the wind that sails
the sailboat, it is the sailor. Knowing
when to make adjustments and knowing when to increase tension or ease it will
make for a successful trip. It’s the
same with us, and this knowledge only comes from failure, trying again,
succeeding sometimes, and experience married to time. But nothing ever happens if the sailor doesn’t sail.
Of course, these days most sailboats have an engine or at
least an outboard motor to help maneuver them through harbors that are much more
crowded than they used to be. It takes a
skilled sailor to pull into a slip and stop on a dime without an engine, but it
can still be done. For us and our own
hearts, there are no engines or outboard motors. We have no choice but to be skilled sailors
capable of breezing through tight quarters and catching the wind for the ride
of our lives.
