Ah yes, the ever changing transitions of our lives. As our Reverend James Kubal-Komoto said in his sermon “End beginnings” “All transitions cause anxiety, even little transitions.”" This makes sense to me. We don’t go straight from fall to spring. There’s winter, a fallow season, in between. In Hebrew Scripture, the people of Israel didn’t go straight from slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land. They, too, had an in-between time – - forty years, in fact, of wandering in the desert.”
Yet, forty years of this…
I am always on a path of an exciting adventure. My last adventure had me riding a bus for three hours a day to experience what I thought would be a great way of opening doors, more opportunities. See, I went there with expectations, carefully calculated decisions, plans all with great intentions yet this isn’t the first time I was reminded of something I learned long ago. Things don’t always work out the way you had intended. (I am not going to go into details of this adventure unless you care to chat over some tea or hot chocolate with me.)
So, here I was in another transition, truly struggling to get a good grasp on what to do next. I felt a slight panic of not knowing what to do, frustrated that it seemed that all 0f my efforts towards moving into a new better shiner new journey were merely just good efforts yet I was still spinning my wheels.
Jak, my donkey… yes donkey. Has taught me a very valuable lesson. When I ask him to come along on his halter he normally offers me two choices. You can pull on me, tug on me, lean all your body weight on me, heck even hook me up to a winch to try and make me move or you can relax, be calm and gentle with me and when you show me patience, love and respect I will follow you till the end of the earth.
Okay, I know what you are thinking… “SO?”
What is means is that every time I have a major transition what I REALLY need to do to stop reacting, relax, take some time to re-center myself, look at the situation with curiosity, show the situation my patience, love and respect and try to keep space in my life so that if I really want change, or progression I need to be honest and faith and confidence in my heart.
1 Comment
February 3, 2008 at 3:34 am
First. Thanks for a post on some practical self compassion during change.
There is a “thing” called Life Transitions Theory that has a graph on what consciousness goes through as time passed by a life changing event.
It has been used in “Circles of Peace” or “Peace Making Circles”.
I have some inside knowings of this program and books will be appearing before long, as alternatives to, of all things, domestic violence offense and treatment.
Thanks again fellow new blogger.
Benafia