Jun 17, 2007 | 12:00 pm
Boulder and the Flatirons
So I LOVE Boulder. It was beautiful. Monday morning I was hiking in the foothills of the Rockies with the gorgeous sun radiating a dry 85 degree day. I went over to the University of Colorado – Boulder while talking to my sister on my cell phone. All of a sudden I was out of breath! Being a mile higher than Portland didn’t phase me until I went up hill just a little bit.
What seems like a small hill can sometimes surprise me. It might be the little 5 minute skit I did on Saturday night. I knew that performing in front of my peers would change my life – and it did. I chose to do that to live the life my soul intended. It was a truly life changing event and because of that I’ve already scheduled myself for a volunteer orientation for the Broadway Rose theater here in Portland.
This hill up to the college was a physical obstacle that I had to face in order to get where I was going. It didn’t phase me to look at it because I’ve climbed many hills before. But being a mile high is different. The oxygen is thinner and a body just reacts differently than at sea level where I live. My perception of the obstacle was filtered through my day-to-day experience.
Other times I’ve seen hills and chose not to climb them, mainly because my old perceptions taught me to stay safe – to not risk. There are discussions that I’ve avoided, jobs that I’ve not applied for, parties I’ve not gone to, vacations I haven’t taken, classes I didn’t sign up for because my perceptions got in the way. “I’m going to fail. I’m too stupid. Nobody likes me,” was the filter.
Homework: Identify a filter that stops you. I challenge you to post your thought in the comments section. Imagine what could happen without that filter.
Truly Yours,
Joseph Lyons