The power of the cliff-leaper

I have a new transformational coaching client who is a real joy to work with! Though she is experiencing major (and I mean major) challenges in her life that would be enough to floor many mortals, she walks forward boldly in authenticity and trust and everything just falls away! At least that's the way it seems to me.It's like when we're bold and prepared to walk forward courageously in truth - I know I've said it before - but the whole universe comes to our aid...It's something about trusting the divine. And when we're willing to put ourselves out there, opening our heart and saying 'yes' to life (effectively living from the power of our soul), then the universe/ Source/ God/ Life/ the divine can reach us. Because we're open to it. When we're closed, however hard it may try, it just can't get through.Anyway, I put this thought out on Facebook this month and a number of you got in touch, saying you'd experienced the same. Some of you, however, said you'd experienced the opposite - that the moment you 'put yourself out there', ie, as inspirational author of Women Who Run with the Wolves, Clarissa Pinkola Estes, put it once, when you 'stand out on deck and shine your soul', the more difficult life becomes.And yes, in one way, that's true. As I see it, at a certain point on our path, when the soul realises we 'mean business' and we want to clear our pathway of all untruth and open to who we are at our core, then it starts to throw up everything that's in the way of our full self-realisation... everything that we have still to work on within ourselves is progressively thrown up in front of us for us to work through. At least that's how I've experienced it.But the trick is not to be fooled by this (tee hee - actually, no tee hee, because you won't be introduced to The Fool until later in this story..) - and to read the subtle messages behind what is going on. Life, the universe and everything is not ganging up on us here - it is bringing to our attention exactly what we need to work with in order to move forward on the path. Our job is simply to learn to read the signs and symbols, learn the lesson and move on through.But what I'm trying to intimate here is that when this kind of thing starts happening in our lives it is a good thing (honest!) and that it's an indication that we're 'getting somewhere'. At least that's the way I see it in the lives of the people I'm working with - and my own, of course!Anyway, this whole discussion reminded me of one of the cards in the pack of 'oracle cards' a dear friend gave me some years ago. It depicts a man stepping out over the side of a cliff, a bloom in his hand and a look of rapture on his face (I dug it out and I picture it here). In the deck of cards this card is called The Fool. But the point is, this man is no fool. In fact, he's quite the opposite. He's quite literally stumbled on a universal truth: that the moment we step off a metaphorical 'cliff' in ourselves - the very thing that our soul is calling us to do - all manner of wonderful support comes to our aid. Mmmmmmm.... (I'm not advocating cliff- leaping-for-real, here - at least not without adequate precautions - I'm talking metaphorically, of course!)If you'd like to talk this through with me, just drop me a line or join the conversation on Facebook! Or come to our public talk on The Mechanics of Spiritual Change, in Guildford, UK, on March 27th (see Events page). Put it in your diaries!