We live in a “pocket” neighborhood  which means we’re just enough out of the city limits to enjoy the freedom of nature and are located just enough within reach of the City, to not be too far out. All the homes in the neighborhood enjoy space (everyone has from one to three acres surrounding their home).  Consequently we see coyotes, foxes, raccoons, birds of all varieties, etc.  Yesterday on my morning run, I caught a deer by surprise and watched it take off across the road and effortlessly leap over a five foot fence.  It was amazing to watch how she tucked her front legs up to her belly and swung her back legs all the way behind her as she pushed her chest forward so that the momentum allowed her to cross over the fence without too much effort. I could see where the idea of reindeer flying came from. 

I love to study, witness and learn about all kinds of flight.  My Dad is a retired fighter pilot who has amazing stories about the various jets he’s flown. When I was four years old, we lived in Japan.  I remember mom piling my brother and I into the back seat of the car, swaddled in blankets, as dad drove her to the base where he would take off on his various TTY’s (little did we know then that he was making sorties to Viet Nam back then)!  I still have mental pictures in my brain of watching from a hill as Dad’s jet took off into the red sunrise.  

What both of these “flight” examples offer me is the awareness’s of being able to simultaneously see the outcome of the many steps it took to enable the flight to occur and then to see the result from the steps taken. 

Last week I witnessed a client “taking off” into flight with her career. She was one of my first Coaching clients five years ago and recently came back to work to untangle the tangle her life had taken.  We started off with the “Clean Sweep Program” looking at the mental, physical, career and personal aspects of her life and what she wanted to accomplish with each area.  Then each week, she created a “to do list” of action steps she would take to make each goal happen.  Week after week, she crossed off her “to-do’s” and we began to see the light at the end of the tunnel. 

Finally, she could raise her head up and look around her work place to determine where she wanted to be there and what she wanted to be doing.  Through brainstorming and strategizing with what she was experienced in doing and what her opportunities were, she created a plan for getting a job/position that she knew would make her much happier. 

When she waltzed into our session beaming and declaring that she had gotten the job AND a nice pay raise, I felt like I was watching her take-off into the vision for her life.  I didn’t get to see the deer learn how to jump the fence, but I did get to witness the results of what it learned (how to tuck its feet, etc.).  I didn’t get to see all the flight training my Dad went through to learn how to fly his jets, but I did get to witness the results of his efforts.  But with this client, I got to be in the process of watching how step by step she put her intentions into actions so that in time she could take off in flight. 

I’m fascinated with flight and enjoying watching all kinds and seeing how it is accomplished. You may enjoy flight or there may be some other kind of “normal” everyday event that you witness that catches your fancy.  I believe the world communicates to us through that which catches our attention.  Today I’m learning about how my fascination with flight can help me to slow down enough to understand how the flight occurs so that I can be hopeful about my own flight. 

What catches your attention today? What is the world around you trying to tell you?