Hot Air Balloon – A Metaphor For Life

Most of you are unaware of this.  Scratch that… None of you know what I’m about to tell you.  This year, I’ve resolved to take a Hot Air Balloon ride.

I’m not exactly sure when I first recognized that I wanted to go all Fifth Dimension but I must tell you that going up, up, and away is a priority for me.  In fact, sailing along in a Hot Air Balloon is so important to me that I’ve included it in my “Life Collage”.

THE MEANING OF LIFE

Several years ago, I lost a very good friend.  Upon his passing, I realized something that you might have also realized.  I recognized that I had not been living life to its fullest.  So at that moment, out of fear that I might also die soon, I started compiling a “Bucket List”.

Fear, especially the fear of dying is good for a number of things but fear, in and of itself, is not a good source of inspiration for prolonged motivation.  As the time elapsed after my friend’s passing, I discovered that not only was I not as emotional about his passing but I had lost the motivational edge to fulfill the tasks on my “Bucket List”.

Don’t get me wrong, I still missed my friend terribly and I wanted to live a more fulfilled life but keeping a “Bucket List” felt unauthentic.  That’s when I started creating my “Life Collage” or as I also like to call it my “Reasons To Get Up Each Day List”.

Contrary to a “Bucket List”, my “Reasons To Get Up Each Day List” has nothing to do with dying.  The “Reasons To Get Up Each Day List” is all about living.  On a piece of 8.5” x 11” paper, I included images and words of the life I wanted to live.  I made copies of my “Life Collage” and placed it everywhere I was likely to be – home, office, and car.

Included in the “Life Collage” are the people I want to meet, the places I want to go, and the things that I want to experience.  Thus far, I’ve fulfilled many of the items included on my list.  Yet, almost as soon as I mark off one of the things on my “list”, I realize that there is someone else I want to meet, some new place I want to visit, or something else I want to do.

Now instead of going to bed each night obsessing about death and what I haven’t done, I now go to bed each night realizing that if I’m fortunate enough to see tomorrow, I have another reason to get up.

HOT AIR BALLOON RIDE

And that brings us back to where we started – the Hot Air Balloon ride.  Although, I haven’t gone up in a Hot Air Balloon yet, I have studied them.

During my examination of Hot Air Balloons, I’ve discovered why I find them so fascinating.  My fascination with hot air balloons is a combination of three things: the beautiful artistic simplicity by which they are designed, the majestic way they float freely across the sky, and the analogous way Hot Air Balloons represent life.

The first two meaningful things require no further explanation.  The third meaningful thing – the analogous way Hot Air Balloons represent life – bears more explanation.

A HOT AIR BALLOON IS LIFE

Speaking of bear, I’m only asking you to bear with me a little bit longer.  I promise not to bore you nor try to amaze you with my understanding about how Hot Air Balloons are constructed or how they function.  I’m a novice at both so I will stay in my lane.

Instead, what I would like to do is share with you the four elements of a Hot Air Balloon that I believe represents life.  It doesn’t matter if you are a parent or not, I believe the following four things will resonate with anyone hoping to live or help someone else live a more fulfilled life.

FOUR DIMENSIONS

1.  The Envelope – The largest part of a Hot Air Balloon is the envelope. The envelope is the fabric of the balloon which holds the air that keeps the balloon afloat.

Humans also have an envelope that keeps us hopeful.  Our envelope is called the mind.

Our minds are the refuge for all our hopes and dreams.  Like the hot air balloon, a child’s mind also requires a particular type of air if the child’s hopes and dreams have any chance of getting off the ground.

Children need parents who breathe life into their thoughts so that their hopes and dreams can soar.  Children deserve parents who are committed to providing the right conditions for positive thoughts – a loving and supportive environment – where hopes and dreams can become reality.

2.  The Burner – The burner is the second smallest item on the Hot Air Balloon. But don’t let the size of the burner fool you because it should not be discounted.

The burner propels the heat up inside the envelope.  And just as a Hot Air Balloon requires regular intervals of hot air and propane to stay afloat, a child’s mind requires require regular intervals of motivation and inspiration.

Parents who want their children to live a stable life with an upward trajectory always breathe life into their children’s hopes and dreams.  Like the burner, a well-intentioned and purposeful parent has the ability to not only raise the hopes and dreams of a child but they have the capacity to keep the hopes and dreams inside the mind of a child forever moving upward.

3.  The Basket – The basket is the place where the passengers and pilot stand. In the basket, the pilot and passenger are able to see where they are going and of course, where they have been.  In the basket the pilot and passenger are able to navigate the course of the journey.

As, I imagine, will be the case when I take my Hot Air Balloon ride, I will have a say in my journey but the pilot will make sure the journey is safe.  Parenting is similar to being the pilot in the basket with a passenger.

Parents are life’s pilots and children are the passengers.  Thus, the role of the parent is not only to be the burner that provides children with the inspiration and motivation to follow their dreams.  But the role of the parent also requires that parents stand with their children so that they can point out all of life’s nuances and help their child navigate the safest route for what can and should be an unbelievable journey.

4.  The Sandbags – Sandbags were once used to control the height of flight. However, today sandbags are no longer used in Hot Air Balloon flights.  If you want to go higher, you just turn the burner on.  If you want to go lower, you either allow the balloon to cool or you open the flap in the top of the envelope so that some of the hot air can escape.

Even though sandbags are no longer used in Hot Air Balloon flights, sandbags remain an unfortunate reality in life, particularly in the lives of children.  Sandbags are the cynics, naysayers, the dream slayers, and hope torpedoes that keep children from soaring.

Sandbags are the educators with fixed mindsets who tell our children that who they are is who they will always be.  Sandbags are the community and governmental leaders who seek to prepare our children for the global technological revolution with pre-industrialized ideas and methods.  Sadly, and far too frequently, sandbags are us – parents who unintentionally or intentionally carry our own excess baggage into our children’s lives.

Many of us bring our oversized baggage into our children’s journey which is perhaps the greatest impediment to keeping our children’s hopes and dreams grounded.  Word to the wise, if you want your child to have any chance of making the impossible possible, don’t be a sandbag!

SAFE TRAVELS!

As you make sure your child has every opportunity to soar as high as possible, I want to encourage you to keep your head up for me.  Yes, I mean I want you to literally keep your head up for me.

Look up already!  I could be floating over your neighborhood in my Hot Air Balloon.

What’s in your “Life Collage”?  What are the hopes and dreams contained in your child’s mind?  How are you inspiring and motivating your child?  In what ways, are you a sandbag?