Life is full of random elements. We do something and it leads to something else. If you never took the first action then you probably wouldn’t have gotten to next one and your life would have been different because of it. Sometimes those actions build on each other like the ripples in a pond after you’ve thrown in a stone. I love those ripples. I love how they bring me to new discoveries and new connections.

            I find it interesting to look back sometimes and examine significant things in my life and trace the ripples back to the stone and wonder about how different things might have been if I’d never thrown that first stone. Putting yourself outside your comfort zone is a way of throwing a stone. Stepping forward to try something new on your own and being willing to open yourself up to the possibilities that come from the action.

            Ripples meet other ripples in this vast pond we all live in. It is amazing to me how we meet other people and how that person can become so important in your life and still it can be traced back to that random element of how you met.

            Some years ago a woman I work with, knowing I had recently bought a motorcycle casually mentioned that her husband had also just gotten back into riding. We took a ride one afternoon and then later on that summer decide to ride together to San Francisco. Well, we did that trip and for the next ten years have done other trips together every summer and now we are bonded together like brothers.

            I did my Crossfit training for years in West Vancouver and that caused ripples that connected me to some terrific people, and the strongest of those ripples still resonate in me. But sometimes a ripple will run its course and when I felt I needed to leave the conflict that had developed there with the owners I was once again a smooth stone ready to be thrown into a new pond. I was so lucky that I hit a bullseye when my stone landed in Deep Cove. From the first ripple of going into Pure Athletics to train in a few classes I was so warmly welcomed that I knew everything was going to work out. The opportunity to have my ripples cross over and meet the ripples of so many wonderful people who had made their own toss that brought them into this gym has been a remarkable experience. To have so many new friends, people I care about, who brighten my day and make me a better person just by knowing them is an incredible gift.

            I never would have received that gift if I’d settled for less and stayed in a situation that was not making me happy. If I’d been unwilling to start over and afraid to try something new then I would have denied myself the enrichment that has happened to me in the past year.

            You never know where the ripples will take you but one thing for certain is that if you don’t toss that stone then the surface of the pond will remain unchanged.