Vision is not enough, it must be combined with venture.  

It is not enough to stare up the steps, we must step up the stairs. — Vaclav Havel

As some of you might know, I’ve been posting a daily quotation on my Facebook site  www.facebook.com/martina.steiger.   When I came across this quotation this morning, I burst out laughing and shook my head.  Once again, the universe was nudging and winking at me as it has done so many times before in my life.  I’ve been receiving strong messages, verbal and visual ones as well as simply felt sensations and a sense of knowing, in various ways that share the same theme: STEP UP!  I even hear it in the news cast, particularly in the current reports about Iran.

Isn’t it intriguing that we hear the call to venture by Vaclav Havel (1936), a Czech writer, dramatist, and politician, the last president of Czechoslovakia and the first president of the Czech Republic?  He knows first hand how both vision and action must go hand in hand to effect change.

Why am I getting the message from all corners to ‘STEP Up?’  What does that mean for me at this point in my life?  Have I not I STEPPED UP many times before?  What am I called to do or, perhaps, rather to be now?  What might you be called to do and be?  And, what are we collectively called to do and be at this time?

Perhaps this blog might give us the opportunity to share with one another our understanding and experience of what STEPPING UP entails in our lives—both the vision and the venture. 

Here’s the image that first emerged for mewhen listening to the news reports from Iran: Thousands of individuals have come forward and are rising to the occasion of not only envisioning change intheir country, but STEPPING UP despite threats to their lives.  They have accepted responsibility for their desire to live in a country of their making.  I’m in awe of their courage.

So, here is how my vision is transforming into venture.  World events of the last few weeks and the many hints the universe has sent my way have now provided me with enough incentive to STEP UP and begin my blog site as well aspublish a newsletter.  You see, sharing my being, my thoughts, my beliefs, my writing, and my work in such a public forum, by literally and figuratively STEPPING OUT into the world, means leaving behind the familiar.  It means for me no more hiding and living inside the comfort zone, inside the box that keeps me hidden or only visible to a select few.  The time has come for me to BE in all of my light and shadows and share myself with the community.  After all, I’m not risking my life when I heed the call to STEP UP, unlike many brave individuals in other areas of the world.

I have vowed to accept the call, yetagain, to STEP UP, to discover more of the world with new eyes from a new vantage point.  I feel ready,willing, and able to be seen and heard, to create community, and to share.  Therefore, I’ve created this blog site, called “Martina’s Musings.”  The newsletter “From the Insight Out” will see its inaugural publication soon with exciting news about my book entitled InvisibleConnections.  Stay tuned!

Are you willing to STEP UP with me?  Where and how are you ready, willing,and able to begin?  I’m curious to read your comments and hear your story and trust we will build a community here that invites sharing and mutual support. I also invite you to become my friend on Facebook.  I’m looking forward to our exchanges.