Trusting the Adventure
by Trudy Grienauer
In this in-between season, when winter hasn’t quite left and spring is dragging its heels, do you have a story that brings you back to summer? Do you have a summer memory that makes your body feel light and warm and brings a smile to your face? One of my favourite moments last summer involved a young actress and street performer from Edmonton, Alberta. On the July evening I saw her show, I was feeling tired and rather cynical. I was dealing with the hassle of an insurance claim, and my home was beleaguered by contractors. The best thing to do that night was walk over to the little plaza where the street performers’ festival was in full swing.
The show of Tianna the Traveller had just started. A plucky four-year-old girl, who obviously knew what was going to happen, came forward to be her assistant. She was very keen to be “on stage” with Tianna, mostly because there was a treasure chest to guard —and eventually to open—and a lovely cape to wear, which touched the ground on her little frame.
Who can remain cynical in the face of a four-year-old’s unflappable confidence and sheer delight? Oh, and her trust! As a teaching metaphor, Zen master Daido Loori Roshi used to reminisce about a time when his children were small and liked to hurl themselves off a chest of drawers with utter trust that he would catch them. With the same trust, this little girl stepped onto Tianna’s thighs to perform a balancing act together. Waving to the crowd while balancing, she looked like she did this sort of thing every day.
While Tianna, an escape artist, was getting tied up more and more by an adult volunteer, the little girl had the task to work the crowd by shouting, “Adventure!” when prompted by Tianna, to which the crowd was to respond, “Charge!” This encouragement from Tianna’s uplifting show has stayed with me: Adventure! Charge! May I see my challenges as adventures. May I meet my adventures with the trust, fearlessness, enthusiasm and delight of that little girl. And for good measure, may I receive some of Tianna’s confidence with which she wiggled out of all the belts, chains and locks that a stranger put on her.
That evening, an artist and audience met and together brought to life something ineffable. It felt bigger than a show—some kind of heart-to-heart connection, something organic growing out of the joyful moment and the realization that this was a special night for a particular little person.
It’s easy to be cynical about many things these days, and also frightened and close to despair. When I let this memory sparkle, it reminds me that we can lift each other up by coming together to celebrate and to create sympathetic joy. We can share our stories and encourage each other to charge courageously at what is tough and seemingly insurmountable. Art can certainly gather us together— yet we can always do this for each other in simple ways, by meeting heart to heart, in the vulnerability of deep care.
To share our stories and deepest aspirations—what an adventure! Charge! Thank you, Tianna the Traveller, and bless you, intrepid little girl.
Trudy Grienauer
is a spiritual companion trained in the Pacific Jubilee SoulGuiding program. She has been a student of Zen Buddhism since 2005 and currently practices with Vancouver’s Mountain Rain Zen Community as a distance student. Trudy explores her creativity as a poet, photographer, cook and choir singer. She draws inspiration from hiking and travelling. .
