Adventures in Dialogue

I have always liked the word Adventure!  There's something in that word that conjures up for me positive images of travel, risk, and discovery.  So, as I seek out new places to explore, I find my senses sometimes sharpened... waiting for the unexpected; anticipating the previously unnoticed; and learning anew what this world offers.

I also experience periods in my life when I need to be safe and to know what is happening.  

I wonder:

• What triggers these polarities of risk-taking and security?
• How might I notice when I need to cross the thresholds of adventure or safety? 
• Where can I find balance?

 

Are you focused only on the survival craft?

I have found that as I become more comfortable with people, I begin to open up and share my beliefs and dreams more readily.  And, it is sometimes easier to be open and share with some people more than others.

Where is the risk, though, when I feel safe?  Where is the adventure when I am closed off and silent?  How far can I travel when the sails are furled and tied down?

As I learn more about myself -- how to unfurl the sails that catch the winds of change, I begin to understand how much I need to say -- and to listen.  (After all, once the sails are unfurled, it is important to pay attention to where the wind is blowing!)

Do you know how to handle
the rigging and sails?

It is as if dialogue -- that ability to open up and discuss what is happening within us and between us -- can help steer us through troubled waters.  The obstacles that divert our attention or cause us to go off course now become adventurous challenges to overcome together.  We become a crew that no longer focuses on individual survival but on the movement toward new horizons.

Just think:  the discovery that the world was not flat occurred when explorers pushed beyond the horizons they knew and could see!

What skills have you developed
to steer through obstacles?

We can too!  We can adventure beyond the belief systems we hold onto, our survival craft.  We can learn dialogue skills that open up our worldviews.  We can learn to steer toward new relationships that are waiting to be discovered.

It takes the willingness to risk being adventurous with our family, friends, and work colleagues.  It takes risk taking and vulnerability.  It requires the desire for discovery!


Blessings to you this week as you seek to learn anew, as you explore, and as you discover horizons beyond where you stand now:  Life is good!  Discover it!  Embrace it!

Larry Gardepie

Dialogue San Diego Consulting

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