one hundred percent one hundred percent

I often refer to the learnings from
CTI’s Co-Active Leadership Program.
Partly because they’re so brilliant
and partly because they’re
so present with me more than
two years later.
Today, I am reminded of an exercise that
demonstrates what it’s like to be
fully met.
One hundred percent one hundred percent.
Standing face-to-face with a partner,
high up in the trees,
with only each other for stability,
you clasp hands, lock eyes and
shimmy sideways on parallel wires
that get increasingly further away
from each other
until you are completely horizontal.
You have no choice but to lean in
one hundred percent one hundred percent.
Or, fall.
It’s an extremely emotional experience
as terror turns to trust and trust turns to love.
Particularly for those of us who rarely feel
this met on the ground.
One hundred percent one hundred percent.
Afterwards, I wrote in my journal:
“Why would I settle for less?”
What I love about this exercise,
besides that it’s such a great, in-the-body
metaphor for what actually happens in
relationships that matter,
is that leaning in too much is as
damaging as leaning in too little.
You let yourself fall in love up there.
Or, you fall.

Look at me! Look at me!

What Restores Me