Happy Leap Day!

"Liz Lemon: 'I'm about to do something crazy.'
Her boyfriend Chris: 'You should! Real life is for March.'"
--From the 30 Rock episode "Leap Day"

Happy Leap day ya'll. I'm recovering from the flu (:p) and working hard on a blog entry for Verity Credit Union (click here to view), but I just LOVE the idea of a "leap day" so I wanted to write something about it.

“Leap and the net will appear.” (John Burroughs, American Naturalist and Essayist) has always been one of my favorite quotes. It's what we do all day every day. We wake up, trusting that the earth will still be spinning on its axis. We take a step, trusting that gravity is still the law of our land. We step outside, trusting that the air we breathe will fill our lungs with oxygen and sustain us for another day.

Every day is a leap of faith, but today is an extra special day. An extra day. “A day to do the things you wouldn't ordinarily do. A day to take chances.” (also from the 30 Rock episode “Leap Day”)

The other day I read an article about doing something different every day. Just to shake things up, to knock yourself out of your comfort zone, to take a leap of faith. I love this idea and I am going to try it, starting today. 

I have the idea to do it for a year, but perhaps I'll start with a month and see how it goes. I don't think this is going to be easy for me, but who knows? 

So Happy Leap Day to you! Now go out and TAKE A FLYING LEAP. The net WILL appear! 

[Leap Day Update: My "thing" for the day is to use my left hand instead of my right. For writing, for mousing, for brushing my teeth....whenever I remember for whatever I can. What's yours?]

And the net appears.

"Leap and the net will appear." 

--Zen saying, on a clothing label

I have heard this Zen koan batted around a few times since starting to pay attention to that sort of thing. It's one of those that I heard, liked, wrote down, and didn't assimilate into my being at all. Until recently. 

When I was making the decision to quit my job, it was one of the quotes that kept rattling around in my brain, nagging at me. "You SAY you believe this. Are you willing to put it to the test?" 

And that was part of the reason I said, "YES!" to taking what felt like a leap off of a tall building into the great unknown. I wanted to leap and see if the net would appear. I wanted to see if everything I believe is true. I wanted to really trust the Universe and have it come through for me.

I am happy to report that it did. 

Just days after I gave my notice we got a call from our brother-in-law asking if he might be able to use our kitchen for a commercial shoot he was working on. They needed an "average kitchen" (read: no granite counter tops, stainless steel appliances or cherry cupboards). 

We said, "Sure!" And with that, the first net slipped into place. We got the commercial and with it enough money to cover my salary for the next two months.

A few days after that I was emailing with the marketing manager at my job about my last blog post for them. She asked if I might want to continue blogging for the credit union as a "member blogger" instead of an employee blogger. 

I said, "Sure!" And with that, the second net slipped into place. 

I had my first writing job and I hadn't even left yet. 

As I continue to walk my walk I am noticing more and more opportunities all around me. The Universe is throwing up net upon net upon nets to support me as I leap into the unknown of this new life. And I am grateful.

When have you leaped and had the net appear? I would love to hear your stories in the comments.

Chop and...awe?

"Ever notice that "what the hell" is always the right decision?" 

--Marilyn Monroe

I chopped off all of my hair a few weeks ago. I mean ALL of it. I got out the clippers, slapped on a #8 and went to town.

A lot of people have asked me why, and I have been trying to formulate an answer that makes sense - to myself.

Because the truth is I don't really know WHY. (Do we ever?)

Here are some of the reasons....

The idea first came to me when I was reading "When Things Fall Apart" by Pema Chodron, an American Buddhist nun, who wears her hair in a similar fashion. I wondered if having your hair cut so short made it easier to access the Divine, since all Buddhist monks and nuns have this haircut.

It made sense to me in a funny way that really short hair would help, if only by forcing you to focus on something other than your looks.

Which leads nicely into reason #2: As the holidays reached their peak, I began to really resent the time I was spending on my hair. Wash it. Dry it. Style it. Dye it. I began to long for short, easy hair.

So I started to cut it. Myself.

First, I bobbed it. That lasted about a week, until I realized that was just as much work as long hair.

So I went after it again - trying for a Pixie cut - but somehow I just kept cutting until it all ended up on the floor.

Right after I did it I was SO happy. I felt FREE. STRONG. POWERFUL. Like a beautiful Amazon Warrior. "Give me a spear and send me out to hunt some bison" kind of strong.

It was a beautiful winter day and we took the kids to a park where we all ran around and breathed in the clean, fresh air. It was fabulous.

But on Monday the weather turned cold and dreary again. I was freezing and kind of wishing I had all of my hair back.

Plus, I had started to wonder if it was just plain unattractive. Everyone had reacted well to it and I was getting lots of complements, but I still had this idea that "some people" were not going to like it.

So I had to ask myself: Do I care what "some people" think?

I wish the answer were a resounding, "NO," but I am not quite there yet.

I DO care what people think of me - I think that's only human - but that gets to the final reason that I wanted to do this in the first place.

I am still me, for better and for worse, and I think having this haircut makes that abundantly clear.

I can no longer hide behind my long hair and pretty accouterments. This haircut puts me out there in the world in a way that I was not before. Kind of pushes me to the front lines, which is where I say I want to be.

I have this idea that there is a way to be in the world that is peaceful and loving and awe-filled all of the time. That is what I am searching for. And while I don't believe a haircut can give that to me, maybe it can help me find it.