Beyond the Horizon
The horizon leans forward, offering you space to place new steps of change. – Maya Angelou*
The request has arrived.
As a leader you are invited to engage in the process of change.
Personal development is a unique gift offered all human beings. We have the potential to become stronger, more successful, more advanced…more like our Creator.
Why does it matter? Only growing people grow their influence for high impact in life; legacy. Leadership is that ability to lead, guide, direct, or influence people.
To change limiting behavior is to expand your influence with people and that’s what life is about: the business of life is people and the business of business is people.
This past week my schedule took me to Los Angeles. On the early morning flight to Dallas I enjoyed a high altitude sunrise. Notice the horizon.
Later that sameday I sat writing in my journal with a front row seat on beautiful Venice Beach, CA for this sunset. Notice the horizon.
That question: what’s beyond the horizon?
The horizon is that distant line where land or sea appears to meet the sky; it looks closed. When reality it is where more opportunity waits: sunrise/sunset.
The word horizon has an interesting history.
The word horizon derives from the Greek “ὁρίζων κύκλος” (horizōn kyklos), “separating circle”,[2] from the verb “ὁρίζω” (horizō), “to divide, to separate”,[3] and that from “ὅρος” (oros), “boundary, landmark”.[4] Wikipedia
Along the journey we encounter moments where the horizon can feel like a boundary. It is that moment in the Story when we decide to move forward or not. For many, it is when that voice suggests “But you don’t know what’s beyond the horizon?”
In his book, The Laugh of the Water Nymph and Other River Stories, author Doug Ammons writes about the adventure sport of kayaking. He introduces a philosophical meaning to the river, as he writes …
I believe that moving water is the perfect expression of emotion, and somewhere in its endless moods, lie our own. -Page 4
Describing the purpose of adventure experiences …
And if one is going to travel, the particular place you go matters less than what it leads you to explore within yourself.
One story is about kayaking the Lochsa (“lock-saw”) River located in the mountains of North Central Idaho. The flow of the river is unregulated and in late spring, it is rated as one of the world’s best for continuous whitewater.
Video: if you have 2 minutes this video shows the action.
In Chapter One - The Horizon Line, Doug writes …
Kayaking has shown me a lot of fun, a lot of seriousness, and a simple fact: life is full of horizon lines. They come in all shapes and sizes – accidents and jobs, people, marriage, and children. Time is the current that pushes us toward the edges of what we know, usually faster than we can cope. And flowing water is the current of time made real. I know that fear comes from doubt about where those horizon lines lead. I also know that the truths of life, large and small, are what lie beyond each one. – Page 8
What do you see on the horizon?
What’s going on in your Story and how do you feel looking at the future?
Are you a bit anxious, do you believe there is something great over the horizon?
Are you ready for the “truths of life, large and small” that lie beyond the horizon?
Doug is leaning forward – not just into whitewater horizon line on the river – but as a leader. He is my client; engaging the process of change, growing his influence. Thanks Doug for the privilege.
What are you doing with the space to place new steps of change?
Please comment below.
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*Maya Angelo, American Poet, novelist, educator, dramatist, actress, historian, filmmaker, and civil rights activist; b 1928, Source: thinkexist.com
