Last night I re-watched one of my favorite movies, "Under the Tuscan Sun." If you have never seen it, I highly recommend it. The film is about a writer who finds out her husband has been cheating on her. Seemingly overnight she finds herself divorced, loses her house, and has no idea where to go from there. Her best friend had booked a bus tour of Tuscany that she could no longer go on and told her friend she should go instead. Nothing could've seemed like a crazier or more irresponsible decision at the time, yet the writer decided to do something out of her norm, take a chance, and see what happened. Once she got to Tuscany and began to roam around the town, she saw a sign for a beautiful Tuscan villa up for sale. A gorgeous woman saw her gazing at the picture and told her she should buy it. "Oh, I don't even live here," she replied. "I just went through a divorce and my life in The States is a complete mess right now. Moving out of the country would be a terrible idea." The other woman smirked and responded, "A terrible idea....don't you just love those?" The mysterious woman walked away and left the writer wondering. She then got back on the bus and resumed the tour of Tuscany. Within moments the bus stopped due to a herd of animals in the road. The writer looked out the window to her right and saw the name of the villa she had seen on the for sale sign, and then right behind it was the house! She gasped and couldn't believe her eyes. Now she could've been a doubting Thomas and chalked it up to coincidence, laughed it off, and continued on her way. She was too much like me, however - a believer, a wanderer, a dreamer, and someone who leads her life with her heart, not her head. She stopped the bus, removed herself from the tour with seemingly no concern whatsoever as to what she would do from there, and walked into the house. She winds up buying it, which seems like the craziest idea of all, and then begins to build a new life for herself in Tuscany.
Crazy, right? Irresponsible, illogical, seemingly impossible? Not to me. To me, it's always my most carefree ideas that become my best. It's always the flashes of inspiration, the tiny moments of clarity, the little pushes in a new direction, and the seemingly thoughtless thoughts that have brought me the most joy and positive change in my life. It's easy to stay comfortable, to do the "logical" thing, but the best things in life happen when we push ourselves to be a little, or a lot, uncomfortable for a while. I was uncomfortable and downright scared to get on Superman (the largest rollercoaster in Western New York), but I was absolutely elated that I had conquered it when I got off and rushed to find a phone so I could tell my mother. I was petrified and definitely very uncomfortable the first time I left my parents, the first time I flew alone, when I decided to dorm, when I decided to go away to school and study at the University of Georgia for a semester, when I later moved to Atlanta, every time I started a new job, and when I flew across the country and then out of it to attend a writing retreat on a random island in British Columbia about nine months ago. Each one of those experiences, however, were the best ones of my life. Not only did I enjoy each one immensely, but I grew as a person, learned so much about who I was and what I wanted, and became a better and stronger version of myself each time. Each one of those times I could've thought myself right out of it, quickly making a list of reasons why my decision would be crazy, careless, too expensive, or "pointless." But I don't want to think myself out of the best experiences of my life anymore. Do you? Remember, "All growth is a leap in the dark, a spontaneous, unpremeditated act without benefit of experience." We grow from putting ourselves in situations we haven't been in before. We grow by taking off without knowing where we will wind up. We grow by leaping. We growing by daring to be brave. We can only get to higher ground by going through the discomfort of trudging uphill, not staying comfortably where we are. We have to leap BEFORE we see the net, and that certainly isn't easy. It takes strength of character and it takes VISION. You have to SEE what you want to happen happening before it actually does. You have to believe it BEFORE you see it, which is the true definition of FAITH. Everyone who ever had a dream knew how to do this. They knew how to manifest what they wanted before they actually had it. They understood the power of vision coupled with intention. What's your intention?
The writer in "Under the Tuscan Sun" had a break down a few weeks after moving into the villa. She was all alone in the house with hardly any friends, no family, no one to cook for, no one to occupy the other bedrooms, and she began to wonder if there ever would be. She began to cry to a man that had become a friend, telling him that she had no idea why she decided to make such a crazy decision. "Well," he asked, "Why did you then?" She looked up with big, honest eyes and said, "Because even though my husband left me and my life fell apart and I'm older now than I once was, I still want things." She wanted another chance at love, she wanted a family, and she wanted a new life. He then told her a quick story about a train, which is my favorite part of the movie. He tells her that where there is a train in Tuscany now, through the mountains, there wasn't a long time ago. The men who layed the tracks, however, did so before there ever was a train. They were told not to, because a train would never be able to make it through the mountains, but they laid the tracks anyways because they new that one day, the train would come. The writer smiled when she heard this and so did I. That is how all of us should live our lives, laying the tracks for what we want before we have it. You don't get the life you want tomorrow by doing nothing today. You have to believe in what you want, see and feel it happenening before it actually does, and then act like you already have what you want before you do. That is the power of manifestation. That is how you make it happen. Dream it, believe it, and then you can achieve it.
So sign up for that art class you always wanted to, push yourself back out into the dating world, take that random trip you've always wanted to but "never have the money for and probably never will," sign up to volunteer for an organization you're interested in, and do something "crazy" you've always thought about but just never did. Life is too short to think everything through, and more often than not, we think ourselves right out of the things we want most. Don't let yourself do that anymore. Just go for it! The best ideas are often the ones that seem the craziest or the most "terrible" and random at the time. If there is anything I can advise you to do let it be this: Follow the sparks, the flashes of clarity and inspiration, and the moments of inner guidance more than anything else. Let them guide you more than the voices of reason, the doubting Thomas', the criticizers, the jealous ones, and the negative voice that always seems to be the loudest. Take a step without any idea of where it will lead you. Leap, and the net will appear. That is what faith is all about. You have to do whatever it is you want without the answers. The answers come AFTER you leap, not before. And ironically enough, so does the ground - the higher ground.
Whatever it is that you want down the road won't happen unless you start today. You can't get your dream home without first laying the groundwork and building the foundation. You can't become an author unless you first start writing and getting your name out there. You can't get over your addiction unless you first start saying no one drink at a time. You can't experience complete health again unless you first undergo the physical therapy or treatment or wellness plan that you may not want to. Whatever "train" it is that you want to come, please realize that it can't if you haven't laid your tracks down first. So, what are you waiting for? Grab some rails and get to work! :)
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