How Do You Know When to Leap?

For years after quitting my office job in 2006 to follow my intuition down a winding path of teaching yoga, going to school for massage and nutrition, and eventually coaching, I'd worked as a part-time barista.

And over the course of those years, I wanted to quit a thousand times. I couldn't wait to be able to support myself full-time doing the things I loved doing.

Then one morning, I woke up and just knew that was the day I was going to let that safety net go.

And life has been showing itself to totally have my back in that decision ever since.

You've probably heard the saying, "Leap and the net will appear."

But a question I often hear from my coaching clients is:

“But how do I know when to leap??"

Although you certainly want to do your research and take proactive steps to support the shift you want to make — save up the money you need to feel secure enough, get trained in the field you want to move into, etc. — you can't rely on logic alone when the rubber-meets-the-road moment of making the actual leap comes.

Because the mind is where the ego sets up camp. And the ego's all about trying to keep you safe, which means not much leaping.

The mind will rattle off every excuse in the book why you shouldn't take flight:

You don't have enough money.

You don't know what you're doing.

People will think you're crazy.

It would be irresponsible.

Or, to really stop you dead in your tracks: Who do you think you are to try to do that??

When it comes down to it, you'll know when to leap when your gut tells you to.

Which may make you guffaw and think, "Yah, but how do I know what that feels like?"

It will probably feel like, as Elizabeth Lesser puts it in her book Broken Open, a "choiceless choice."

Like something that, while it scares the bejeezus out of you, also feels so right in your core that it almost feels like you have no choice but to cut the safety chord and jump, come what may.

Of course you do have a choice. And you could always choose to stay right where you are.

The question is, with this one amazing life you've been gifted, is that what you truly want to choose?

When that feeling of fierce inner knowing that you "have to" make a move bubbles to the surface from the deepest part of yourself, your choice is to say Yes please or No thanks.

You'll know when to leap when you feel it in your bones — in a part of yourself that feels totally un-pin-point-able, but also more real than anything you've ever felt before.

And the readiness to leap will feel utterly separate from your logical mind.

You're actually not stuck. You have choice. And the truest parts of you already know when it's time to take the leap you've been tiptoeing around.

Drop out of your head and into your body and you'll catch a glimpse of what feels like the right — even if terrifying — choice for you in this moment.

And if you're following your intuition with your heart at its back, fear is outmatched.

So what leap are you standing on the precipice of making right now?

Keep taking thoughtful and committed steps in the direction your intuition is telling you you're heading; trust yourself to handle whatever comes when that voice deep in you tells you it's time to jump; and have faith that the universe will provide you with just the support you need when the moment is aligned.

Here's to the freedom that will come from your flight.

Lots of Love,  

Melissa

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