One brick at a time!

Image Credit - Faith Connection

"The worst walls are never the ones you find in your way. The worst walls are the ones you put there- you build yourself. Those are the high ones, the thick ones, the ones with no doors in." ~  Ursula K. LeGuin

I saw this quote I thought about how it related to the weaknesses that all have.  I know in my own life, I have put up walls to protect me from having to acknowledge those weaknesses.  As I examine my walls, I would take LeGuin's words a little farther.  Not only are the walls we build the highest, thickest and least likely to have doors, but we also have the uncanny ability to add bricks to them as needed.  

I am reminded of an experience in my recent past.  In September 2013, I participated in the Fingerlakes Mud Run and one of the obstacles (actually it was the first) was Hardwood's Revenge...which is basically a climb over a 7' wall followed by a climb over a 10' wall.  This was a daunting task for someone who had only recently joined the physical fitness game, but it was not impossible.  When I reached the obstacle, I had the option to go over or around.  I chose over (because I had many friends with me to help) and once I committed to the challenge, the walls were still only 7' and 10' high.  They did not get taller as I was scaling them.  When I finished scaling the 10' wall..there were no others added after it.

The walls I am encountering now, as I travel down the road to Cheerful Acceptance are much higher than 10'...and as I begin to scale them, it seems as though they are getting taller the closer I get to the top.  Each time I feel like I am making headway in my journey to accept all of my strengths and weaknesses, there are more bricks added to the walls I have established in a lifetime of hiding from those things.  I have worked so hard creating walls that they have, in a way, become self-sustaining.  The defend themselves and work to keep me out.  I am coming to the realization that the secret is not to climb the walls for even if/when I reach the top, the wall will still be there.  The REAL secret is to remove the walls.  Part of my journey to Cheerful Acceptance is to recognize the walls and to systematically, one brick at a time, take the wall down.  As I am typing this, my theatre background is humming the song One Brick at a Time from "Barnum."  In the song, they are building the wall of Barnum's first museum, but the sentiment of One brick at a time works if you think of it in reverse.

How are you going to take down your walls today?  What bricks are you going to carry away, one brick at a time?  Don't try to carry the whole wall away, commit to one brick...and then another... Cheerful Acceptance is a journey and it starts with one brick!  Have a GREAT day!