Spring is approaching and so is our time change...the dreaded one....the spring ahead. It is a hard transition but offers a promise of longer days! Hooray! So this topic of Change resonates deeply with me as this is exactly what I am going through in my life. I am transitioning into new space both personally and vocationally. Yoga is my passion and my of life. There is also a part of me that constantly seeks a new challenge. I love people, helping people move toward holistic wellness (mind, body AND SPIRIT) and bringing passion to whatever I do. I have had so many irons in the fire for several years, gently cultivating and nurturing relationships of various kinds; personal and business partnerships. Watering seeds planted and each year tending to those that take root and gave life…..as well as being diligent to weed those out that did not take or sprouted in an unfortunate way. My husband and I are approaching some life altering shifts in life as John approaches retirement, Ryan heads to college, and our parents enter into stages of life where they need our help and a lot of it. All changes are good changes, but right at this moment it is like a tidal wave coming at me…..powerful and looming.....magnificent and roaring.....all at once…in its beautiful, divinely appointed approach. Most days I am excited as hell and feel empowered by its approach. God and I talk all day every day so it's of no surprise of its arrival. I am so blessed by what He has bestowed in me and upon me. I could never imagine all things coming together as they have and with the most unbelievable timing. THEN…..there are other days my inner chatter (I have affectionately names it THE COMMITTEE), screams doubt at me and tries to get me to feel like I am barely able to keep my head above water. THE COMMITTEE tells me I am not deserving of the good approaching and very deserving of the struggle approaching and how could epic-ally (is this a word?) fail at all of it.
If i ask you to close your eyes for a minute and look at your life right now: Do you feel any change? Whether its the change of season, a new job, a new business, a new place, maybe a break up, a transition or even a new relationship or its your health, your finances or even death if you feel a certain emotion arise in you then yes you are experiencing change in your life. Now this can lead to us to either a happy place or a feeling sadness depending on what you are going through. Irrespective of what you may be going through. the one thing in life we can always count on is Change.
Looking at nature we can learn that everything everywhere and at all times is always changing..sun rises, sunsets, days change to night, flowers bloom, a little cocoon becomes a butterfly, something is always born and something is always dying. This is just nature and life at play. There is no resistance, there is no good or bad it just is what is.
On a human level, change can be something where the old makes way for newer and better things in life . Just look at the way we communicate in the world now. Each new invention from the old phone to our latest cell phone to social media has forever transformed our present life. If we examine our behavior to each of the previous inventions we may conclude that no matter how good each new thing is the transition is not always easy and sometimes it is hard to adapt to. What is curious bout this tension is we always know instinctively what we are getting now is better than what was. Many times we forget this new change in our life has arrived NOW because our old ways are just not serving us.
Amazingly this is exactly what life is doing to us, taking us to newer shores. This is when we must realize each one of us was born with special, unique, and God-given gifts, a profound purpose what Wayne Dyer has described as ‘the music in our hearts as we were born with, something within you that no one else can hear but you’ I believe there is a Buddhist saying something to the effect of: “Our resistance to Change is suffering”. One eventually realizes change may look like it is happening on the outside of us, but is in fact, happening from inside. Its a full time inside job. Yoga philosophy encourages us to let go of attachments and to become a witness to our senses. Yoga philosophy also teaches in order to have inward peace and contentment in all things and in every circumstance we must have a faith practice. Yoga’s sole purpose is to prepare the mind and body to meditate on and with God.
I was taught Jesus came to this world because humans could not detach themselves from the things which displease God, our creator. God accomplishes this (detachment from earthly things, material things, things of the flesh) in those who trust in Him through Christ's life and death. He changes the heart and mind through the knowledge of the truth and the indwelling Holy Spirit. Yep, in other words, we get a helper!
2 Corinthians 5:17-20 (MSG)
16-20 Because of this decision we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you.
Well, if you like things short and sweet here is the NIV version
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:[a] The old has gone, the new is here!
So even though change can look like a struggle and be unbearable at times, the sooner we embrace change and rely on God’s power to soar through it, the sooner we move forward to new things in life. We must be willing to take every thought captive and bring it back to the plumb line of God. Remember we are beautifully, powerfully, and wonderfully made by God for A PURPOSE. Our dharma is set in our soul--much like the baby dolls of the past and their infamous MADE BY MATEL stamp on their rear ends. Our hearts are stamped MADE BY GOD.
Our yoga practice offers us tools to quiet down THE COMMITTEE in order to hear the only voices that matter; our soul’s ad God's. When you are living out your purpose, things can look like a tidal wave. Remember when the shadow of their approach take you over, they are not coming at you to smash you…..they are coming to lift you up and take you for one elegant and amazing, Godly blessed ride whose ripple effects you will never know! Trust it. Paddle out. And take your ride!
Let me end with a quote from Gandhi ” Be the change you want to see in the world “. Life is messy in all kinds of ways so just be brilliant in your mess. Eyes and hearts tuned inward. Its the best we can do.
Yep….Let’s get after it! Onward and upward as always….
Trish
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