It is like flying a Kite – 5 unforgettable lessons
In the first weekend of November 2019, I was in the beautiful Quinta Ten Chi, Sintra, Portugal for a Dragon Dreaming practitioners gathering. I met there Sebastian, a young French entrepreneur who recently moved to Portugal. Giving him one of my “Dreaming Cards” we dreamt of having a meaningful conversation, which happens to happen the next day.
And so it was that the next day just after visiting Rocca del Cabo, the westernmost point of Europe Sebastian took me to fly a kite, test his new dream venture, a kite flying school.
On a gorgeous windy and rainy beach near Cascais, he skillfully explained and mentored me in the art of kitesurfing using a kids version, so my feet (at least) would not leave the ground. From our short adventure, I got some powerful insights and unforgettable lessons about dreams and projects I would like to share with you here.
- Take Flight
After preparing the kite on the ground, covering the edges in small piles of sand, and rolling the string towards the ocean in the direction of the wind, everything was set to take flight.
This is done by slightly pulling the kite towards the wind, if possible, with a little help from a friend who can hold the kite. This first part is to let the kite go up till to very edge of the “wind clock” though letting the kite fly straight up by lightly pulling and letting it go up to the sky.
The first secret of running successful dream projects is to let/allow them to fly. It takes only little pull towards the wind (the energy of the world) for the dream to raise and show the way.
.
2. Feel the Wind
Kitesurfing, Sebastian explains, is all about keeping the kite on the edge of our “wind clock”. The kite always wants to move with the wind beyond the “wind clock”, the imaginary circle of the direction of the wind from the position of the “surfer”. The surfer’s role is to keep it there if it would go further then that it will likely fall. When on “the edge” the kite can pull us and make us fly with it. As you get the sense of flying a kite, it becomes unnecessary to look at it, you “see” the kite just by holding the thread. To feel and keep your kite on the 1 or 11 dials of the imaginary “wind clock” is what you need to kitesurf, jump, and spin, Sebastian says.
The wind is equivalent to the energy stream coming from the world towards the project. When we create/realise a dream project, we are called to continually sense the direction of the wind and move with it. Learning to feel the creative edge of where the energy “want to go” to is the mastery skill of project “magicians“. We can then “feel the energy” and let it guide the way.
3. Make it Move
One of the most fun and exciting moments of learning and playing with the kite is trying to make it turn and spin 360 degrees circle in the sky. The way it is done S explains is to make a fast and decisive movement of the kite’s handle. It is imperative this gesture is done in a clearly and swiftly and to keep it like that until the kite is back to his original position.
Making clear and decisive movements is a beautiful lesson for “Dream surfing”. Many times in our projects, it is our indecisiveness, our own disbelief in the dream and our action that stands in our way. The clarity of the first movement affects the whole life cycle and energy of a project.
4. Make a Commitment
One of the mistakes I kept doing in the beginning, as I was trying this spinning technique came from trying to correct and make changes before the full cycle of the Spin is complete. This lead to the kite either falling or nearly falling. You have to commit to the spin, Sebastian repeated, when I allowed the initial movement of the kite to complete it is course, then it worked.
This lesson may be the most powerful one I got that day, to have faith and give space to our initial intuition and action, whatever happens. Once the cycle is complete, it is possible to start a new movement, but when “spinning”, the only good thing to do is to trust.
5. Nudge Nudge
More than once, the kite fell or was about to fall, mostly because I was trying to spin when the kite was not in the middle-top position, or my initial movement was not clear enough. Whatever the reason Sebastian was always there nudging me to nudge and pull the kite back towards the wind and let it fly again, many times it did. Kites and projects want to be in the sky and fly as much as we want to see them there.
The lesson I took from this was, try and try again. Nudging ourselves and our project to meet the energy of the world is a great lesson. If there is anything sure in dream projects is that you will fail, and you will fail many times before and after you will succeed. The important thing is to keep on and nudge yourself, and your dream kite takes flight again and again.
You may also like
Newspaper Theatre: A Tool for Today’s Socio-Political Landscape
Introducation Newspaper Theatre emerged in the 1960s as part of Augusto Boal’s revolutionary Theatre of the Oppressed, offering a method to challenge censorship and promote public engagement during Brazil’s military dictatorship. By dramatizing real-life news articles and headlines, Boal encouraged audiences to critically examine media narratives, empowering communities to question …
More and more the method of Focusing is nourishing my way of facilitating spaces dedicated to reconnection with self, others and nature/Life, through social arts.. Recently, I offered a workshop about burn out and compassion fatigue in Rome to psychotherapists, combining the gentleness of self-empathy and the radical acceptance of feelings from …
“Broken hearts, Open arms…”
Palestine-Israel: Broken hearts, Open arms…“Combatants for Peace (CfP) is a joint Palestinian-Israeli community working in solidarity to end the occupation, discrimination, and oppression of all people living on this land. Guided by the values of nonviolent resistance, we are showing the world that there is another way.” (https://cfpeace.org/)In partnership with ImaginAction …