Why Enjoy the Fall

​Dear Why Team member,
I hope this week’s message finds you well and enjoying Fall.

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Audio:🗣

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Why Enjoy the Fall

Of course it’s reasonable for you to think this week’s theme is the Fall season. I do love the changing of the leaves, the cooler temperatures and the Thanksgiving Holiday, but this week’s message is more-so on the power and importance of Falling.

Can you picture right now your most impactful fall? I’m reminded of my climb this past Spring in southern Idaho, in the City of Rocks, a route called Theatre of Shadows. I was up about 600 feet, struggling to get a hand hold and foot hold on the granite when I suddenly slipped and called out in fear. Later, I said to my guide Matt Walker “maybe it was my shoes” :-) and without hesitation he said it was my technique. He then said something particular profound: 
“slips teach us technique”.

Why do we judge slips and falls so negatively when they can have such a positive impact on our life? 
Most of us do not ask for character building experiences, yet how are we to come to know ourselves, our strengths and weaknesses, if not through trials?

Just as teachers test after a period of learning, so does life inevitably bring us tests; tests that reveal what we know and certainly what we need to learn. There is no substitute for experience - and one could argue that our falls have taught us the most.

Take for example my birth, it was so difficult I couldn’t walk or speak for a year :-) 
How many falls did it take before we could walk on our own. And isn’t it cool that we learned while we were still so close to the ground?!

I have fallen many times in my life - and learned much from the experiences - improving technique.

Did you know a lifeguard can’t save you until you stop trying to save yourself? Some lifeguards will swim under and pull you down until you stop thrashing about - which could drown both in the struggle. Only when we let go, can we be saved.

Do you resist the assist?
If so, Why?

It is said that it is better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all. Crying on my mother‘s death bed in hospice, I said to her: “these tears are the measure of my love, aren’t they?” She said, ”yes, they are.”
Who chooses to live less in the hopes of never falling? Who chooses to sit rather than risk a fall walking? 
It is common advice to quickly get back on to a horse from which you have fallen - let not your last memory be of falling, but rather of courage.

This Fall, fear less Falling. The leaves fall after the tree has gathered in all the nutrients it needs to survive winter. 
What more can you gather in from your falls?

This season, may you celebrate your Best Fall Ever, harvesting and storing within yourself for the winter ahead. 

Make it a great week!

Steve Luckenbach

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