Counterpoint - To Risk is to Grow

28th. September 2011

Counterpoint - To Risk is to Grow

Recently we discussed negativity. Happily there is an antidote. While negativity is found in many guises, (anger, fear, resentment, anxiety, cynicism, disappointment and apathy), we rarely see it for what it really is, only what it purports to be. If we look behind the veneer, we find that negativity lacks substance, it is the absence of positivity and nothing more. Just as black is the absence of colour, and darkness the absence of light, negativity is the absence of positivity.

"The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing, and becomes nothing. He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn, feel, grow, love and live." 

Leo Buscaglia

To reach into the metaphysical and change your experience is a challenge, while also being a rewarding opportunity for growth. "Only if you risk are you free." While you refuse risk, growth and positivity are shackled.

Children embrace risk without a moment's thought. They try, do, fail, try again, achieve. As we mature, our egos develop, and we develop an increased fear of personal risk. While this has some obvious benefits it can also be crippling. What would you do if you did not know you could fail?

Prof. Yunus, Bangladeshi and global leader of the Micro-finance movement, brings positivity to the way he works with everyday issues in the developing world:

"Any individual has the power to change the whole world. All we have to do is to use that power. You have to believe in yourself. If you believe in yourself, you will find that you will go for it and that you have changed the whole world."

Growth is a concept intimately tied to risk. We cannot however, allow fear of risk and failure to intimidate us into inaction, apathy or negativity, or we shall never grow. Listen to your language, your conversations, habits and actions: to what are you giving priority, fear or growth?

"To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self. To place your ideas, your dreams, before a crowd is to risk their loss. To love is to risk not being loved in return.To laugh is to risk appearing the fool. To weep is to risk appearing sentimental. To reach out for another is to risk involvement.To live is to risk dying. To hope is to risk failure. But risks must be taken. Because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing. If you risk nothing and do nothing, you dull your spirit. You may avoid suffering and sorrow, but you cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love, and live. Chained by your attitude, you are a slave. You have forfeited your freedom. 

Only if you risk are you free." Leo Buscaglia

If we apply the Four Way Test to negativity we see clearly that it doesn't pass muster. Tomorrow's negativity is build on yesterday's fears. Out of date fears are no longer true for today and are certainly not fair to all. We must be certain that each and every day is where we live. Not yesterday and not tomorrow.

The inventor, Charles Kettering, said, "You can't have a better tomorrow if you're thinking about yesterday." Be reassured, the past does not determine the future. Fill the void with positivity and grow!

In light, growth and positivity,

JO

Yours in Rotary Friendship, 

Jo Beilby

President 2011-12