‘The only thing that is constant is change’ -Heraclitus

True, and yet, none of us can gracefully flow with it all the time. Whether a painful death or an exciting birth (by which I mean all endings and beginnings: relationships, creative endeavors, settings…), our habits of holding and protecting ourselves from potential pain, regret, and disappointment, can take over our experience, and leave us gasping for air.

Sometimes the change isn’t even yet perceptible to someone outside of you: you may be envisioning a change or there is a death of an old self or pattern, and an emerging birth brewing on the inside, and the external changes will come later, but the discomfort of change is definitely perceptible to you.

Either way, the process is often the same.

To allow the change to unfold in a way that is authentic to our spirit requires trust and practice, and we often need support with this process.

How do I stay present and loving to the parts of me that are freaked out and want answers, to know how this will turn out?

How do I help myself soften and get connected to the part of me that knows that I am fine, and will be fine? The part that knows that I need to ride this out: pain, loss, fear, happiness, buzzy excitement, numbness, and that when I’m present to myself, I really can’t go wrong?

Transitions are often painful, scary, and life-transforming times. They enable us to be with our habits of holding ourselves tight, and to do things differently, change the story line.

Finding out what it’s like to soften into reality rather than debating with it, bracing against it, numbing it out, and all the usual shenanigans that we’ve developed over the years, gives you a sense of choice, strength and endurance that you can use for the next change, and the next and the next….