Tomorrow, in commemoration of my 50th birthday, I’m jumping out of an airplane from an altitude of over 10,000 feet. It’s my first skydive ever, and I’m a bit apprehensive – to say the least, but I’m definitely doing it.
I’ve had a tendency in the past to sort of ignore my birthdays; play them down; sometimes even work right through them.
But the BIG 5-0 is too significant for that kind of treatment. So I’m jumping from the sky, cruising on the sea (soon afterward) and celebrating in a grand fashion.
You see, the transition from age 49 to 50 marks the one and only, naturally-induced, total energetic “do over” of our lives (unless we are fortunate enough to live to age 98 when it happens a second time).
Our lives pulsate in life cycles of seven years that correspond to the chakras. When we’re 49 years old, we’re in our 7-7 cycle – the highest spiritual pinnacle possible. That means, the only way we can go at this point is DOWN – and that’s exactly where we go – all the way, down, down, down into our 1-1 cycle where first chakra reigns supreme.
Basically, our 50th birthday marks a huge right of passage that can be summed up in one word: SURRENDER.
That’s why I chose skydiving. I’m going to a super high place in the sky (7-7) and dropping all the way down to the sweet ground of Mother Earth (1-1). It’s so symbolically fitting. And one thing I’ve learned about spiritual transformation and self-growth over the years is this: the more you can actually EMBODY the learnings, the better.
If you want to have courage, do something courageous like walk on a bed of hot coals, or if conversely, you want to soften and surrender, literally wear a blindfold around for a while and trust the kindness of strangers to guide you, or fall back into the arms of a trusted group of friends, or… well, jump out of an airplane with nothing but a glorified piece of fabric to save you from splatting.
Embodiment is the ultimate teacher. You can think you know what it would be like to be a parent, but absolutely nothing compares to the actual experience, because experience is the greatest teacher of all. It’s the only way we can deeply own what we learn.
Anyway, I digress. What I really want to share with you is this: today, I got really honest with myself and discovered that jumping out of a plane wasn’t the scariest act of surrender I could engage in this week. Something else was even more frightening.
You see, I had a fleeting thought the other day – that I should leave my computer at home on this cruise and not do ANY work – and I nearly broke out into a cold sweat. Those of you who know me as the mostly-reformed technophobe that I am may consider this new-found attachment to my computer to be a sort of mini-victory, and on one level, I think it is. Still, I find it so incredible that the idea of leaving my work and computer at home creates more anxiety for me than the idea of jumping out of a plane!
So you know what I have to do, right? Yep. The Mac is staying at home (wow, it hurts just to type that — really). A big, strong part of me does NOT want to do this (the part that keeps saying, “but what about…?) — which is precisely why I MUST do it. I’m going to pack my journal, and a good book, and share lots of time connecting with my myself and my beloved.
What kind of surrender scares you? What addictions are you afraid to release? I invite you to join me over this next week and commit to letting go of one thing you that’s blocking a fuller experience of life, and see what happens. I’m betting surrender will be good for your soul.