Augen zu und durch.

About a year ago on a hot afternoon, I was hanging out with my host children. It was really warm that day, so we decided to put our bathing suits on and run through the sprinklers in the backyard. The water was freezing is spite of the heat and I was hesitating to actually get wet. That´s when Bella, my ten year old charge told me:
- Augen zu und durch Marina!

I loved how simple yet meaningful that expression was. Close your eyes and walk through it.
How many times in life we´re faced with situations when our first instinct is to run away in the opposite direction? Our fears, our past experiences, whatever they are, simply take over and hold us back. Your rational side knows you probably will be all right once you walk through, but you´re unable to take the first step.
Since that warm day of an unusually hot Austrian summer, whenever I hesitate to make a move even though I want to I just take a deep breath and think: Augen zu und durch. And guess what? It works.