THE PRICE OF COOKIES

There is an old Japanese koan, "What would you do if you could not fail?". Contemplating this question often prompts people to think about what it is they truly desire to do and spurs them to voice their secret inner callings.

Once they do, the questions begin: "How will I make enough money working as a performance artist to pay the rent?" "Will I be a success?" Will I have to live out of my car?" "What will my family and friends say?"

When desire meets reality, questioning may reveal that our desire is more related to a psychological need for approval or an ego-boosting need for recognition. It's a great question for getting to the core of what you desire and why.

When we attempt to creatively act we often are faced answering questions that have no easy answers. Some questions can only be answered by taking the risk to jump into the unknown and dealing with the challenges as they arise.

Fear of the unknown often makes us uncomfortable. We avoid risk because we want to avoid failure. And sadly, we often choose to walk away from the struggle of reality, retreating to the safety of imagined futures where in our dreams we never fail. There is an old saying, "A horse will go back to a burning barn because it is familiar."

In this 1932 photograph by Cartier-Bresson we see a man in a bowler hat take a chance. He may appear conservative yet he is bold. He leaps alone.

And yet, does he? We see his reflection in the water. We also see a poster with two leaping figures and its silhouette in the water. The angle of the man's legs is mirrored by the angle of the city's rooftops. And in the distance, a man who did not leap watches.

Psychologists' studies have repeatedly shown that achieving true satisfaction involves successfully overcoming challenges and taking risks. Perhaps, this is one reason I love Bresson's photo. It is a hopeful image. We see a conservative man in bowler dressed in a suit willing to risk a puddle drenching, willing to risk embarrassment if he fails.

We might actually end up happier if we we struggle and fail along the way to meet our goals. Imagine that! In fact, failures can teach us how to fine tune and refine our thinking. We can then close the gap between what it is we think we want and what it is we really want.

We alone must determine when and how to leap. Yet, we are always connected to others. We must take risks to follow our own paths, charting a creative course carefully balanced between those two realities.

Remember the cookies. You might get burnt jumping headlong into risky situations without looking. On the other hand, you will get nowhere if you never try to leap.