Life Goes On….

I love this quote. It succinctly states the obvious. Until it ends, life goes on.

We are approaching Fall – the season of transition when we put away our toys of summer, begin  or resume a different routine, harvest the last fruits of the garden planted in the spring and plant bulbs with hope for the spring yet to come. Then we have winter. Within the depths of winter, it is hard to imagine spring. But it eventually comes.

Change is inevitable. Transformation, on the other hand, is intentional, purposeful and not effortless. What change/narrow spot has this new season brought to your life?

When we are learning to live life with the new arrangement in our sand, we have choices. Among them are: to learn to do something a new way, to ask for help, or to decide gracefully not to do some things. We get to choose our attitude all along the way. What attitude will you choose?

All growth is about change and adjusting to “what is”. Suffering, on the other hand, is resistance to change and “what is”. A narrow spot is a place, an event, a relationship, a failing or falling apart of something that brings us to our knees with the realization that we are not in control anymore and we can’t understand it. We are simply inadequate to handle the task. We are all capable of being physically, emotionally, cognitively, socially and spiritually overwhelmed by life circumstances. There are indeed benefits of being forced out of our comfort zone from time to time. If you stop and think about it, narrow spots might actually contribute to our well-being, providing – perhaps demanding – an opportunity for focused attention. Where is your focus this season?

We all have a negativity bias. While the negative screams at us in the dark, the positive only whispers while shining a light on things that are going well. Positive emotions – like gratitude – expand our awareness, making it easier for us to learn new things and discover valuable resources. Positivity is at the heart of resilience and with it comes emotional agility. It is a choice – a choice we all need to make again and again, day after day. We can take responsibility for our life even though we cannot control its twists and turns. When we look back at the narrow spots throughout our life, we will probably see the outcome rarely, if ever, matched the perceived threat. Even the big narrow spots, like divorce, illness and death, which knock us over and shake us to the core, leave us alive and somehow expanded.

We are on a journey of becoming who we truly are. Developing an ongoing practice of letting go as the hourglass turns one more time, and one more time, and one more time, until adjusting to our sand’s new arrangement becomes a way of life. As the Shaker song says, “. . . To turn, turn / will be our delight, / ’Till by turning, turning / we come round right.” Navigate the narrow spots of life as they occur. Say, “Yes” to what is.