Greater possibilities await right outside your comfort zone. Enticing…? Or scary? Close your eyes, catch your breath, and see if you can sense your (once) wide-eyed self. Is it alive, in idle mode, or has it grown pale and stale? Can it rise from its ashes? Let's face it: conventional or out-of-the-box, living the best life you can is a Verb. Now, full disclosure (to yourself first):

“Am I present for what calls at this time?”

In 2010, as fate would have it, a massive quake hit my country. Intense shaking, buildings collapsing into dense dust clouds, loss of life on a grand scale. Ebbing away faintly in the dark or cut short on the spot. My dear friend Mimi, gone without a goodbye.

It was, at once, a wake-up call, a reality check, and a powerful tutorial.

Every quiver shook more hairs off my neat little bubble of familiarity. The soul of terms like Foundations, Bracing, and Stability flared, and flared, and flared until it got larger than life. In thirty-five seconds, the quake packed into the notion of Balance more depth and substance than the combined effect of my college professor's lectures on steel-and-concrete construction, real-life work as an architect, and long hours of practice on my yoga mat.

“Life is an adventure. We share in its joys and challenges. Step up to the plate and show up for the ride. AND,.. for each other!”

Mimi lived by such views.

Making reality our playground is music to the ear. Still, I'm sorry to say that each time Mimi expressed these beliefs, the knocking on my door met with a shallow ear.

In the days and months following the earthquake, her words loomed large on my mind. The message now rang like a catchy tagline, a cry for inviting in the fullness of living no matter what. As renewed purpose oozed out of their core, even they seemed to speak of sound foundations and creating stability within unrelenting flux.

Waking up to reality. Accepting its nature. Taking risks and engaging. Sharing the path with others.

What if more and more of us become able to do that? What would our lives look like? Would we still hold back, roll with the punches, and lick our wounds numb, hoping it will do the trick? Or would we move through life with more open hearts and minds? Would we feel more alive? More willing to encounter our limits and brilliance alike (and maybe that of others, too)?

What goes on elsewhere in the cosmos is anybody's guess. On dear Earth, we must be willing to invite more lightness of being into our moments. We, ourselves, must lay the groundwork. We can prioritize the attitudes and skills that put us in a better place so we can see through the fears that hold us back.

In a way, what we need is very simple: to commit to the kind of know-how that works for our nature, one day at a time and in daily doses we can manage. And if we slip off and miss now and then, that's fine too! We're in for the long haul anyway.

“Look beyond your comfort zone, dear one, for what may lie on the other side.”

Thus did the mighty quake drill in, with a sting, old news I had shunned despite the heads-up from Mimi.