“Keep your center and youll know which way you have to go.”
Terry Dobson, aikidoist and author, Aikido In Everyday Life
I had undertaken a project that I was beginning to feel was beyond my personal resources to accomplish. I had asked a friend and colleague if I might organize a workshop in the New England area that he would teach. After many months of collecting information, I was at the point of choosing and committing to a conference center. Next would come the advertising, invitations, mailings, registrations, etc. It happened many years ago in the early stages of my new career, and I was beginning to feel that I was in over my head. I began to wish I had never started the project but was afraid to say anything, because I didnt want to let my friend down.
This change of heart was difficult to acknowledge. I couldnt heed the internal signals that were telling me to stop because of the louder voice cautioning that I had started something that I needed to finish. Others were depending on me. Listening to the small Stop voice was dangerous, because I might disappoint people. It was easier to plow ahead, even if it meant discounting my...