Are You Grounded in Life? Here's Why Being Grounded May Not Be the Answer! by Nanci Burn

Until age 6, I could fly. I stood on an ottoman, held my arms out like a plane, levitated until my body was parallel to the floor and propelled myself around the room. Others with similar memories attribute them to childhood dreams. Not me.  I flew. It may have been an out-of-body experience or an actual physical thing, but as I got older, I lost that skill. 

We are all born perfect, with unlimited powers and pure knowing of who we are. Not that we can do anything we want, but we can do anything we are put here to do. According to Parker Palmer, we are disabused of that truth, purity and knowing of our “birthright gifts” just by living in this earthly place. 

One who is “grounded” is considered balanced and sensible. Being “grounded” is also punishment for not doing what you are told. These days we want to be grounded. But why the focus on being balanced and sensible over, say, knowing who we are and pursuing what we’re meant to do?

I don’t want to be sensible; I want to fly. I want to return to that place of pure knowing of who I am. What am I meant to do while I’m here? I used to know, when I could fly. Let’s all try to remember our gifts and use them to fly.

“We arrive in this world with birthright gifts  – then we spend the first half of our lives abandoning them or letting others disabuse us of them.” – Parker J. Palmer, "Let Your Life Speak"