Free Falling

 Welcome back Natural Health Family. Imagine everyone had a good past weekend. Did you happen to notice that August is almost past already? Time can seem to fly by and many times we can get caught up in the race. Sometimes we forget to slow down and take it all in. I was able to skydive over the weekend and it helped me to realize that time can really slow down (or it feels like it). It can be up to us to take a moment and be present where we are at. 

Have you ever done something you knew would be thrilling but decided to do it anyway? Skydiving was that action for me. All the time building up to it and the anticipation of falling from the sky had me feeling a bit nervous. It was something I have never done in my life. I have heard about it, read stories, but never experienced it for myself. So before the jump you have to go through some procedures. When checking in you have to sign a lot of documents and watch an instructional video. This didn’t help with the nervous feeling, probably made it a little more. However, it was a feeling of nervousness and excitement. Then you get to see other people taking off and jumping ahead of you. Next, they put the harness on you and make sure all the straps are secure. After that, they put 5 people in this little plane that fits 4&½ people. Then you slowly fly up to 10,000ft. Then here comes the part we’ve all been waiting for. Before we open the door the instructor tells you what is going to happen and last minute prep. As the door opens you feel the strong gust of wind blowing through and the heart races more and more. In what seemed like 10 minutes to actually jump it wasn’t more than 30 seconds. Half your body is in the plane and half is out. Then, just like that, we are thrown into the air. A freefall straight back to earth. You feel what gravity is really like at 10,000ft. 


Now it is funny what your mind will do in that time before the jump. It will make all these stories of what could happen or the worst case scenario. Our brains do this to avoid threat or danger in the environment. However, it is not what is really happening but just a story the mind makes up. These were trained instructors guiding us to jump in the safest way possible. Honestly, the fall went from intense to one of the most peaceful times in my life. At that moment there was no time to think but only to experience what was happening. 


Many times we can get caught into overthinking about the wrong that happened, is happening, or will happen. We let our minds run the show. But if we are present we can see that it is not the case. We can get back to the present and experience what is and do what we need to do in the moment. Sometimes it takes a leap of faith to help us realize how blessed we really are.


Have a great week!


Dr. Chip