As we are watching the Olympics and appreciating the many of stories of courage we see, I am remembering stories of courage that happen every day as part of our
Cortes Island life. Because we live and work near and on the water we enjoy spending time on our Bristol sailboat,
Pearl. We needed some small repair on the top of the mast and I was very self-critical because I didn’t have the courage to go up to the top of the mast by myself. Our friend Amanda said that she has been aloft many times because she loved the view and so offered to help. She arrived with all the right gear: a climbing harness for security, a canvas bucket for tools, and long pants but bare feet for protection and agility. My first lesson about having courage is that it is easier to do this when we have the right equipment and training, because courage is not the same as foolishness.
Before my partner and I hoisted Amanda up the mast, she wanted us to know that the people turning the winch and “tailing” the rope were the most important in the process, because they were the ones who gave the person aloft the confidence to focus on the work. Someone below who is not paying attention is more than just sloppy, they are dangerous. My second lesson about having courage is that it is the care and attentions of the people behind the courageous one in front who are truly helping make the courageous act possible.
Yet there is Amanda up the mast. And so a willingness to say “Yes” is surely the most profound lesson at the beginning to any story of courage. All actions that begin with this commitment to Yes are at their heart a story of courage. The
drum’s voice is not apparent in the wet hide and so the courage to trust experience is necessary. The blank surface of
a new painting requires the courage to make a mark without the security of an established form. Receiving signs from the unseen world when conducting a
Journey Oracle reading grows from the courage to believe in what can be experienced but cannot be proven.
I guess there are lots of ways to climb a mast. And the views are always unexpectedly beautiful.
