The Ultimate Responsibility
of Mindful Risk-Taking Book Project
Have you taken
a radical risk, a risk that—after years of ignoring what mattered—responded
to your soul’s yearning? Maybe you at last tried something that forever
altered your life’s direction. Maybe at the height of your career you changed
careers or dropped off the career track altogether. Maybe you changed genders.
Maybe you finished a marathon. Maybe you started to listen to how you feel
for the first time in forty-three years. Whatever you did, something was
at stake—financially, socially, existentially, spiritually. And yet the
risk was something you have sensed or intuited you needed to do for a long
time. My own journey has led me to the living rooms of several people who
have chosen the latter. They are people who have assumed the ultimate responsibility--to
be responsible for creating their fate. People who, by responding out of
principle, out of their soul's yearning, out of some intuitive calling,
have chosen to co-create their destinies for better or worse. Their stories
are not all alike although they do have patterns. What do they have in
common? What happens to us spiritually when we take such leaps? What happens
to us physiologically and neurologically when we take risks? How do we
reconcile the issue of "responsibility" when taking what appears to others
to be a selfish risk?
The journey into radical risk-taking thus far has led me to meet some fascinating people--fascinating for their courage, their self-awareness, their wonder. I'm currently gathering interviews and stories for a book that explores some fundamental questions related to radical risk-taking. Read a sample story of a risk-taker from New Mexico who learned to listen to her body and to complete the marathon of her life--a race that led her to leave an abusive husband and to choose right livelihood, a race that led to personal empowerment and authentic living.
Listening to these remarkable stories has helped me remember how extraordinary we each are, each carrying our own stories. Visit this page periodically for glimpses into these people's admirable stories, and read further to see how you might get involved.
In January 2005, six of these risk-takers in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area came together at the first Ultimate Responsibility Gathering. There, we each shared parts of our story, asked each other questions, and found ways to be each other's allies on this journey. Similar gatherings will follow in New Mexico, Oregon, Washington D.C., and London.
If you're interested in sharing your story with me, you need not write your story. Simply email me at jeffdavis@centertopage.com with "Ultimate Responsibility Story" in the subject box. Give me a skeleton of the story, and I may contact you for an interview/dialogue to flesh out the details. No stories in part or whole are used without each person's express written permission.
Otherwise, help
spread the word about the project as I would like a diverse sampling in
terms of story content, gender, socioeconomics, age, and ethnicity.
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Yoga as Muse 2005 Focus: 
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