Resiliency through Life’s Transitions
Transitions…
As day flows into night, I am reminded that we spin through space at thousands of miles an hour and our universe is constantly expanding, change and transition are the constants in our world. One manifestation of health is our ability to weather change, to be flexible and adaptable. Demanding that change not occur is a battle we will never win. Instead we need to learn to bend and move through the transitions of life, be they seen or unforeseen.
“To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest.” Pema Chödrön
Loss…
How much suffering occurs in life because we think of things as opposites? death-life; despair-hope; love-hate; north-south; east-west; night-light; suffering-life… the list can go on and one. Perhaps instead of opposites we should think of things flowing. Death flows into life, life flows into death; love flows into hate – and with forgiveness and healing hate can flow into love; night flows into day and day flows into night, east flows into west… there is a natural flow in our world. Learning to ride the ebb and flow of life allows loss to become life’s cradle, just as winter turns to spring.
my daughter’s baby! babies of all sorts just want to explore life!
Openness…
Patricia Kuhl studies infant’s brains, and says that infants have a ‘celestial openness.’ Jesus said that you have to become like a child if you want to enter into life. Buddhism equates openness with emptiness, not fixating or holding on — thus not becoming stuck. We come into the world empty, then we learn to grasp, learning to live again requires releasing our grip. Life can destroy our ability to be open, but it’s this openness that makes new beginnings possible. Learning to be open after a loss, a transition or change, a life long career, etc. is a necessity to becoming unstuck and learning to embrace life again. There is beauty to each stage of life, but the openness of children is without comparison. It isn’t something that should be left behind, but something we should continually strive toward until we have no breath left.