Trial by ability: beyond the mirage of impossibility
I oft wonder about the lessons/signposts that pop up in our lives and why we either react or ignore what comes along to prompt us into action or inaction.
Such is the situation I have found myself in over the last not quite 24 hours. Three times in the last not quite 24 hours I have heard or read about doing a fire walk. It seems to me that I need to stop and pay attention to the message and the memory of trial by ability.
I admit it I am not likely to ever attempt to do a fire walk. I know people who have and I know the impact the fire walk has had on them. My “greatest” feat is close but not quite a fire walk.
Many years back a friend invited to attend an information session that she was not quite brave enough to attend on her own. The event was within the personal growth area, I had not heard of the company that was holding the information event, but I was curious as to what it might be about; and I had nothing else to do that particular night.
When we entered the event, each person was given a raffle ticket no prize was explained, just a raffle ticket. Most people expected the prize to be a free course or a set of CD’s.
Just before the break we were reminded once more of the importance of the raffle ticket and that the “prize” would be revealed when we returned. No one was allowed to remain in the room.
After 15 minutes the doors opened again and we all went back to see the prize. It was not a set of CD’s, it was not a free course, it was a canvass that had been rolled out to 30 foot in length and 2 foot in width. On top of the canvass was about 3 inches of broken glass in every colour imaginable.
The presenters explained that this was their trial by ability, one of them was in fact walking up and down the broken glass, the sound was interesting as we could hear the glass shifting under the weight and the occasional crack as another bit of broken glass broke just a little bit more.
Then came the raffle draw, the room had over 300 people in it. The presenter called out number after number after number. People were not owning their raffle ticket number; others were giving their raffle tickets to those who actually wanted to walk the broken glass. I sat there totally in awe of what I was seeing. I turned to my friend who was doing her best to give her raffle ticket away and simply said that I really wanted to walk the broken glass. My friend looked at me, she never replied to me, she just looked with the look of questioning in her eyes.
Something deep in me said “do this, walk the broken glass, test yourself against yourself”. My raffle ticket number was not drawn, the presenters explained that in all the time that they had been offering the broken glass walk no one had ever claimed it as a raffle prize and that no one had even volunteered to walk the broken glass.
I stood up and said if the “prize” was real then I would walk the broken glass.
Once more my friend looked horrified.
I was not being brave, I certainly wasn’t showing off any courage, I simply wanted to test myself, to know if what I knew and believed about myself was true and was solid.
After signing the legal waiver and a short set of instructions I set foot onto the broken glass. I corrected my balance as much as it was possible to do so, I set my focus past the end of the canvass and walked as if there was a concrete footpath under my feet. I could feel the glass moving and I could hear the sounds of glass on glass as I stepped onto it. What I did not pay attention to was the complete silence from the room.
At the end of the canvass I was offered a choice, sit down on a chair and someone would check the bottom of my feet for glass splinters or I could turn around and walk back. Me being me, I turned and walked back.
At the end of the walk I was offered the chair and I sat down -there was nothing left for me to prove to myself. I had walked over 60 foot of broken glass and not even a splinter of glass had been brushed off my feet, there were no nicks or cuts, there was just the most amazing rush of achievement.
The reason I am sharing this with you now is because I needed to be reminded that we all have the ability to do our own version of a fire walk. The injured worker community are for the most part not shattered beyond ability to be more and do more and set higher loftier goals to strive towards. The injured worker community is amazing, there is such talent and such tenacity and such inner strength that it excites me to think about the realm of possibilities.
I have seen long-haul transport drivers become nail technicians. I have seen constructions workers become florists. I have seen brick layers become teachers. I have seen so many people become the very person they never thought they could be. I have seen Phoenix rise time and time and time again, not because I walked on broken glass but because I knew that when the mirage of impossibility is removed and a steady hand is offered people will always rise to claim back who they always were and to be more than others expected of them.
We all face our own versions of fire walk or broken glass walk- mayhap not in the literal sense, but in the emotional and psychological barriers; we can all walk the broken glass and we can all be Phoenix to rise above the mirage of impossible.
All that is needed is to focus past the barriers with the fixated determination to build the best version of us for the betterment of everyone around us. In short to simply be who we decide we are.
I am not anyone out of the ordinary, I am still just Rosemary, I just happened to have walked over 60 foot of broken glass.
Yours in service
Rosemary
Rosemary
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