Have you ever thought about the difference between taking a risk and being reckless? Reckless seems to be that part of our yearning that is continually frustrated and denied until we “throw caution to the winds” and pull out all the stops. If we are lucky we still have friends in the morning. If we are unlucky we may have a dose of embarrassment after, or a broken leg. Taking a risk is more considered and very very personal. For each of us there is a way we never are, a part of ourselves we never show, a thing we would never say or do no matter what. In that is our slavery to who we became in circumstances beyond our control, and by which we keep ourselves controlled. Taking small daily risks is a fast road to expanding who we know ourselves to be and therefore to freedom.
 
Learning means that something new is possible. Most of our daily lives follow a predictable road – we count on the stability of our families and work to create a “safe” world inside a rather unsafe larger world. There is nothing wrong with stability. The Navajo say that you must know where your water comes from, traditionally Navajo people never travelled a greater distance than they could return within a day. Inside that safe container however was room for risk.
 
In every moment, in each encounter, whether it is on the supermarket checkout or walking past strangers on the street, there is an opportunity for you to do something you have never done before. Here are three things to consider:
1. Where does my fear of being uncomfortable stop me from being spontaneous?
2. What would be a safe arena in which I could try out this new approach?
3. Am I willing to be changed by the experience?
 
And there are three conditions that must be present:
1. The feeling of being uncomfortable must be bearable, not moving into anxiety
2. When I decide on taking the risk I need to be willing to stay with it long enough to feel the thrill of my discomfort. This could be a minute or two but no fast getaway.
3. The greatest risk we fear is to make another uncomfortable. This is what makes most of our experimentation in spontaneity feel risky. Experience has taught us that if we hurt another person it is the end of the world. That is why there is a bonus risk inside every risk. You get bonus points for checking with the other if they are uncomfortable. What is the worse that can happen if they are? Simply apologize since it was not your intention to hurt them.
 
Setting yourself experiments in taking a risk is to set yourself free from being a robot, to keep yourself alive and reclaim the spontaneity you were born with.
 
I once gave an entire class a risk assignment to burst out laughing for no reason at all on some quiet street somewhere. I heard a report back six months later from one of the students who was on a pyramid in an ancient city and began to laugh. From some distance away came another laugh — somewhere in the distance was another risk taker. Within minutes not only were people laughing but the jungle below erupted with the howls of howler monkeys joining in.
 
All children love the unknown, the surprise in the wrapping, the thrill of knocking on a door on Halloween, the amazement of sticking your tongue out for the new taste and texture called snow. You have a child inside you whom you promised once that you wouldn’t grow old, a child who is waiting and waiting for something new to happen. Each time you change it up, do something slightly different, the joy of the unknown returns. It brings with it the sense of time stopping no matter what is happening in the wider world.

Jay Tropianskaia, Director of Training
Copyright September 2018