I DOUBLE-DOG-DARE YOU!, by Rev. Susan Overland

"Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."
~Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll

 

“You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”
~Eleanor Roosevelt

 

“GOD SPEAKS AND IT IS DONE.”
~Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind

 

There’s no doubt that most people have seen the iconic moment in 1983’s “A Christmas Story” when 14-year-old Flick is dared to stick his tongue to the school’s flagpole in freezing weather; Ralphie as an adult narrates the scene saying, “NOW it was serious. A double-dog-dare.” It inevitably leads to the sinister triple-dog-dare and Flick being “thtuck” to the pole. Even after almost 40 years (yes 40!), I still find myself yelling, “Don’t do it!” every time I watch that scene because I was the last kid on the block who would ever accept a dare, whether single, double, or triple.

 

Growing up I was the youngest of 5 children and spent a lot of my youth alone and over-protected (the first eight years I was in and out of hospitals a lot). My home life was more Jerry Springer than Brady Bunch and it served me well to be the “good girl,” and not make any trouble. That risk-averse mindset carried well into my adulthood and became the topic of many counseling sessions.

 

Fast forward to 2001. I took a class at a new church I was attending, and I heard the question, “What would you attempt if you knew you could not fail?” I went home that night and cried because I couldn’t come up with an answer. Not fail? How would I know that? All that early programming came flooding back, “You can’t do that.” Or, worse, “Who do you think you are?” But Science of Mind™ had opened the flood gates and the messages kept coming, until one day I realized what God was saying to me:

        I double-dog-dare you to stop playing small!

 

Imagine discovering that life is meant to be a grand adventure and all I need do is keep saying “Yes,” and, as Ernest Holmes wrote, “Begin to blot out, one by one, all false belief—all ideas that one is limited…Refuse to think of failure or to doubt your own power. See only what you wish to experience and look at nothing else.” (The Science of Mind, Pg. 302.3)

 

Please, don’t get me wrong, I have not yet jumped out of an airplane, and I know better than to stick my tongue to a frozen flagpole in freezing temps! I’m not a very good swimmer and I never did learn to ride a bike. But the best news is that I no longer scare easily; I love change and trying new things. Finding my voice, taking a stand and not compromising my values, getting into “good trouble,” it took a solid spiritual practice, faith, a good support network, and the occasional sheet of “spiritual bubble wrap” taped around a broken heart. But oh, I do love this life and I can’t imagine not living it fully.

 

It seems both Alice in Wonderland and Eleanor Roosevelt were both right, and I have solid proof that Ernest Holmes was, too. I’ll end with posing the same question to you, “What would you attempt if you knew you could not fail?” I can’t wait to see what kind of double-dog-dare God has in store for you! Do let me know.

 

 

“The average person could probably list at least three good reasons to prove why he or she can't do whatever it is he or she really wants. But in the deepest recesses of our hearts, don't we really know that we could do it all - if only we dared?” ~ Jack Canfield, Dare to Win

 

 

Rev. Susan has been a member of the Center for Spiritual Living San José (CSLSJ) since May of 2001. She became a Practitioner in 2005 and obtained her M.A. in Consciousness studies in 2011. As Associate Minister, she is dedicated to inspiring transformation and possibility in the lives of others. Whether as a speaker, facilitator, director, or teacher, her passionate, quick-witted and straightforward point of view gives a new perspective to living the Science of Mind and Spirit. In February 2021, she took on the role of Regional Support Coordinator for Region 3. Prior to her call to ministry, Rev. Susan had a thriving career at Hewlett-Packard and, along the way, collected numerous awards for her theater work from New York to California. She lives in the Rose Garden area of San Jose with her husband Max (a licensed Practitioner), and 1-year-old puppy, Cara, a 10 lb. Maltipoo who is prone to Zoom bombing her meetings and classes!