Leapanity

Do you remember the TV show “Quantum Leap”? The series was about a scientist called Sam who found himself lost in time after a botched experiment. He would find himself in the body of another person on each of his time travels and have to put right somebody else’s wrong in order for him to “leap”. Each of his leaps takes him into another body, but Sam always holds on to the hope that his next leap will return him home.

Throughout the journey the only person who knew Sam’s identity was Al; a hologram who only Sam could see. Al would deliver Sam the news of what he was probably there to do in order to make his leap.

To me, this show was a metaphor for life – well, my life at least! You see, like Sam, who is chasing his goal of returning home, I am always chasing my own personal goals. Sam would always stay focused on his one goal of returning home and this is what kept him going week after week to taking the actions he needed to make his leaps (some may call them milestones). When Al would inform him the likely action he needed to take he would do it, even though he knew that sometimes Al could be wrong and he would not leap. To Sam, the reward of leaping and possibly returning home was far greater than any mistake that could be made along the way.

And here we hit my stumbling block. Imagine Al as a metaphor for the sub-conscious part of the brain. He is informing me that there is a 78% chance I need to take an action right now… but we are only a few minutes in to this episode in my life and this won’t sell to the audience. They want my character to suffer and overcome adversity before he makes that leap. The audience is my belief system.

A belief system is a series of beliefs one follows that govern the way they lead their life. They can be great and help people achieve wonderful things in their lives, but they can also put up barriers that prevent people from reaching their goals. For me, my belief system has always been that things shouldn’t come so easy. That I should have to work hard for them; to “pay my dues”. Dues to who? I know how stupid this sounds when I write it down and I laugh out loud as I read it to myself. So it is today I unveil my new belief system. Something I call leapanity.

What is leapanity?

Leapanity is the realisation that rewards do sometimes come easy and that this is okay. A commitment to taking action as soon as the opportunity presents itself. The opportunity to enjoy being “in the moment”. Sharing the positive energy earned with others. Enjoying the constant reward of positive energy being returned to you.

So there you have it. I have just redefined the way I live my life in 5 sentences. And for those who were fans of Quantum Leap, I know Sam never did return home. But imagine what his journey would have been like if he never had the belief to hold on to!