[Mahler]

Mahler’s Monday Morning Motivator # 85 – Of Astronomers and Astronauts

Good morning, guys.
I was recently reminded by a line in a movie of an analogy that I had once heard. Some people are astronomers and others are astronauts. One studies the heavens from the relative safety of the laboratory, using telescope, observation and learning to fathom the mysteries that unfold before him. The other, perhaps with less knowledge and understanding, but with a willingness to take risks, straps himself in a rocket and launches into the unknown to take a firsthand look. The difference is astounding and profound. Both have a passion. One tries to explain what he sees from a distance while the other tries to see what perhaps cannot be explained. And, you know what? Both are necessary. The physical journey of the one is not possible without the mental journey of the other.

A lot of life is like the astronomer and the astronaut with the exception that many of us, myself included, tend to be the astronomer and never take the risk, never take that step to being the astronaut. We enjoy the comforts of knowing something, of sitting on the sidelines of life and observing without really experiencing. We watch the events, we marvel at the achievements, we know all the statistics, we are steeped in the history, but we never really go out and become. We never take the risks of getting out of the laboratory of life and launching ourselves into the reality of it all.

Be the astronomer. Learn, seek, find and try to understand. Equally as important, find a chance, just once in a while, to be an astronaut. Find the opportunity, just on occasion, to lift yourself beyond the day to day; to defy gravity; and to soar.

Have a great week.

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In Fitness & Friendship,
Mahler