You’re Going to Fall. Get Back Up (Again).
—Grace & Truth Linkup

Transportation

It’s about to be dark outside. Yet I’m still not home. I know it takes four hours in the car to drive from Mississippi to Alabama.

But I’m not in a car.

I’m on a tricycle.

Thankfully, I wake up. It was a dream. It’s a recurring one. I often dream about wacky modes of transportation, trying to get from here to there.

I laugh about these dreams when I’m awake. But when I’m asleep, the slow progress and the looming distance ahead in inadequate vehicles are torturous.

Stay Awake

That’s why I need to read authors like Mark Nepo in my non-sleep hours. He keeps me awake to my real life so I can move forward, even when it’s hard.

And it’s been hard the past two years. I keep falling down, only to have to get back up again. And again. And again.

So this latest book by Mark Nepo is right on time: Falling Down and Getting Up: Discovering Your Inner Resilience and Strength.

Nepo frames our challenges as opportunities for deepening. He asks us to befriend our fears, pains, and griefs, not be crippled by them.

How? Like many spiritual teachers, Nepo advices that one way is to stay present in this moment because fear gains its power from the future and the past.

“Strength and resolve are always restored through the complete surrender of our naked attention.”

So stay aware of now. Pay attention to this. Face life here. 

Fear gains its power from not looking. Consider the proverbial boogeyman in the closet. The longer we don’t look, the bigger the boogeyman gets. Until some kind grandfather or aunt takes us by the hand, saying, ‘Well, why don’t we take a look in there, together?'”

Begin Again

And after we look under the bed—even if what we see causes us to fall down again—get back up, and be willing to accept help as needed.

“While nothing can minimize the pain and loss that comes from falling down, nothing can keep us from helping each other up.

We all have falls. Many falls. But the damage comes when we refuse to get back up.

So be willing to begin again. Open to where you are.

And do it often. I have to choose each day to begin again.

Not Here to There, But In to Out

Fortunately, it’s highly unlikely that I’ll ever have to travel from Mississippi to Alabama on a tricycle. That’s just for my nightmares. But even if I did, by beginning again each day, I’d eventually make it.

This journey through life—one that we each are on—might feel as daunting as riding a skateboard or a unicycle through mountainous terrain (yes, I’ve had those dreams, too). But as Nepo writes in Falling Down and Getting Up:

“The inescapable truth is that we don’t travel from here to there, but from in to out.”

You bring what lives within you out into the world each time you get back up again.

It’s less about where we’re going but how we’re growing.

Get back up again today and see.


Do you have crazy transportation dreams, too? Share your thoughts in the comments.

My thanks to NetGalley + St Martin’s
Press for the review copy of this book.

I’m linking at these blog parties

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Grace & Truth Featured Post

I’m grateful for books that help me get back up. What are you grateful for? Read our featured post this month by Lynn Simpson to open new possibilities for yourself through a gratitude practice.

Read all of Lynn’s post here at her blog.

The Power of Gratitude – Receive New Possibilities

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8 thoughts on “You’re Going to Fall. Get Back Up (Again).
—Grace & Truth Linkup

  1. Lynn

    Thanks for sharing out the gratitude, Lisa, and linking to my post! As I was reading your post, I thought of the song “One Day At A Time.”
    “One day at a time sweet Jesus
    That’s all I’m asking of You
    Just give me the strength
    To do everyday what I have to do”
    Thank you for introducing to a new, inspiring read!

  2. Michele Morin

    Oh, I can so relate to the weird dreams that follow us into the day! For me it’s never been transportation but other obstacles like getting lost or trying to do too many things at once! I understand that our dream life actually helps to keep us sane!

  3. Lynn Severance

    This sounds like an important ‘read’, Lisa. What you have shared is a great reminder. It does take resilience again and again. Thankfully God’s hand will help us ‘get up and out’ if we access Him. Love, as always!

  4. Lois Flowers

    I don’t think I’ve ever had a transportation dream, but there are others that make me glad when I figure out I’m awake. Thanks for this encouragement to choose to begin again each day. Hugs, friend.

  5. Linda Stoll

    Lisa, thanks for the reminder to get back up again. Especially when we feel like we can’t. ‘A cord of three strands is not easily broken.’ Praise God for community and kindred spirits and sister believers who will not let us go it alone.
    xo

  6. Jean Wise

    Love this : It’s less about where we’re going but how we’re growing. so true and encouraging. Thanks for today’s uplift!!

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