One of the important tactical commands given by the skipper is when he is getting ready to make a tack across the wind - when he's ready to shift direction to a new course in order to keep the sailboat moving forward. He says to the crew, "Ready to come about!" The crew stations themselves at their various positions and replies, "Ready to come about!" At the strategic moment - when the skipper senses the right boat speed and the best wind conditions (speed and direction), he announces, "Coming about!" And with the turn of his wheel, he begins the tack, moving the bow across the wind and assuming the new direction. My wife Shasta gave me a gentle push on my birthday today (akin to a changing of the wind direction which calls the skipper to action with new tactics). She in a manner of speaking called the question on the motion forcing a vote on action. See, I've had this blog ready to go for quite awhile now. I've had people, with hers being the loudest voice, encouraging me to start blogging. I've always responded, "Yes, that's exactly what I want to do. I'm working on it." But for a variety of reasons, I kept putting it off. I was sailing with the wind in a fairly good tack and kept delaying the strategic re-direction and forward movement of my boat.
The deceptive, and somewhat counter-intuitive reality of sailing is that a boat can never be steered straight toward the destination. The winds rarely stay consistent in the same direction. So boats have to tack back and forth across the wind (often pointing away from the "goal") in order to maintain forward momentum and achieve strategic destination. Something I wasn't letting myself do in trying to begin this goal of mine.
So Shasta shifted wind direction today ... and I love her for this! She smiles and says, "Greg, I want to help you achieve what's important to you - so just call me The Activator!"
So I've given the command, "Ready to come about!" And now, today, I've issued the next logical and strategic direction to my "inner crew": "Coming About!" And this post is now the next step. Thanks for encouraging me already, you who have written and signed up! Thanks for coming about with me.
I'm learning that in order to experience maximum fulfillment and purposeful living, you have to be willing to face the changing wind and tack. You have to, as one internationally recognized life coach, Marcia Wieder, puts it, drive your stake into the ground to prove that you're serious about your dreams and desires. You have to take action. You have to put one foot in front of the other and "Just Do It!"
So here I am. Thanks for taking this journey with me. Thanks for joining my conversation about soul ballast and what it means to develop a spirituality that has depth, fulfillment, meaning, and purpose. "Ready to Come About?"
"Coming About!"
