Amp It Up!

The SkyJump Video

nobody@vox.com(Amp It Up!) — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 22:28:06 -0700

Okay, guys, here it is: the live video of jumping off the tallest building in New Zealand. The ride down is at about 85 mph. BIG fun. :)

Skyjump

This jump was a risk that I opted to take, and that my boyfriend Michael opted out of. Most everyone else has said they wouldn't dream of doing it. Why did I? Comfort zone expansion.

When we think of changing things in our lives or businesses, of going to the next level, and then actually do something which commits us, we often get that uncomfortable feeling inside. "Oh, NO! What have I done??" Kind of like the feeing I had when I leapt off that platform. Sometimes, that feeling alone will force us to turn back from our goals, and prevent us from living our dreams.

The key to breaking that cycle is to learn to tolerate that feeling, and eventually embrace it. Feeling uncomfortable is a good sign. It means you're pushing through the membrane of the universe you've already created into the universe you want to create. Being on that edge feels funny, but it won't kill you. By taking unrelated risks such as this jump and stepping out of your comfort zone, you can practice having that feeling and going forward anyway.

You might label this uncomfortable feeling as panic or nervousness. What if you called it a membrane tremor instead? "Oh! I just felt a membrane tremor!" you can say. If you're with someone when it happens, you can look at the person with a smile and say, "Did you feel it, too?"

I can feel your membrane tremors from here. And I can't wait to see the new universe you're creating.

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630 Feet Above New Zealand, and 300 Feet Below

nobody@vox.com(Amp It Up!) — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 17:52:25 -0700

Our last adventure in New Zealand was spelunking! Which is caving. We abseiled (rappelled) 300 feet down into the Lost World caves of Waitomo. Here we are at the top of the abseil:

LostWorldAbseil

That's my fabulous boyfriend Michael on the right. As you can see, they pipe dry ice fog into the crevasse for effect.

Ha! Just kidding. That's naturally occurring mysterious mist. A portion of the roof of this cave, which is primarily limestone, collapsed thousands of years ago, leaving this opening. There are other openings to the cave system as well, much smaller. One is called the Window, and the other, the Chimney. These caves are below a sheep pasture. Probably only one sheep had to fall in to convince his buddies to stay away!

Here I am at the bottom:

Lost World 2

I can tell you that this sort of adventure would never occur in the United States. We had one guide for four people, Gavin. Gavin drove us to the site, taught us what to do, did our safety checks, even took the pictures. The four of us were completely in his hands. If any of us had been hurt, there was no witness to back Gavin up in saying that we had not followed the rules. There was no official representative at the back of the line, just Gavin at the front. To exit the caves, each of us had to climb a 100-foot ladder into the gloom. Gavin went first, leaving the rest of us in the bowels of the earth alone. Michael was trained to attach each climber to the safety line, Gavin asked us if we each trusted him, and then he left. (!!) Does that sound like a lawsuit waiting to happen?? To us Americans it did. But, as I was informed at some point during our stay, "We don't have those down here." Which made for much more exciting, authentic experiences.

If you haven't been out of the States, please go. You can live without lawyers out there....

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What happens in Vegas...

nobody@vox.com(Amp It Up!) — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 16:33:02 -0800

...gets reported on a lot of blogs! In town for the Newspaper Association of America marketing conference. Well, actually, I'm not attending, because I'm no longer in the newspaper business. I just left my job as vice president of new initiatives for the Miami Herald to go back into business for myself. And yet I find myself here because my boyfriend is still in the newspaper business, so it was a great excuse to come and see all my friends.

Are you considering stepping off the treadmill? It's kinda scary and exciting all at the same time, isn't it? If you really have a dream, some of the steps to getting there are really big, aren't they? For some time I've felt like I've been in two different universes, one foot in each. Finally now I've got them both planted in one universe, a new universe, and it feels really good. It took me a couple of months to get here, and sometimes I feel the other universe tapping on my shoulder, whispering job offers in my ear, promising regular paychecks and health insurance.

But I believe that what I'm doing is the right thing, that what I believe I can create, I can. One of the techniques I'm fond of for stablizing belief is acting as if it's already so. Here's why: as Dr. Bruce Lipton, author of the Biology of Belief, told me in my recent interview with him, the subconscious mind is just a computer. It sees everything. It has perfect knowledge of all of the possibilities. The conscious mind applies filters to all of that information, and sometimes not to our benefit. The more we facilitate the subconscious mind's ability to compute by lining up our conscious mind with what we want, the easier it is for the subconscious mind to get it done.

Stay focused! Don't let anyone steal your belief in yourself!

If you're in transition, too, I'd love to hear about your adventures. Leave me a comment here, or drop me a note at kim@kimmarcille.com.

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