Change.
The Practice of Evolution.
What does it mean to evolve?
In what ways do you nurture mindful change in your life?
Change is natural.
Like the seasons, evolution is inevitable.
Yet, how often do we resist this natural process?
How might we invest our energy and attention in ways that honour the cyclic nature of perpetual development?
The art of transformation.
We can become paralyzed with the foreign and fear of the unknown.
The Enneagram suggests that humans learn early in life how to invest energy and attention in ways that cultivate peace, love, and faith.
At some point along our life’s path, many of us arrive at a crossroads where we realize that the survival strategies we learned when we were young are no longer effectively supporting our health and wellbeing.
Instead of experiencing peace, love, and faith,
we experience anger, shame (sadness), and fear (anxiety).
Our strategies no longer produce the results we seek.
We now strive to thrive rather than simply survive.
Do you believe you are worthy of living a life inspired by a drive to thrive
rather than a goal to merely survive?
Most of my life I never recognized the distinction between living a life rooted in a drive to thrive rather than to merely survive. I didn’t even know what living a life of “thriving” would look like. My early holding environment (childhood) taught me to focus on safety, security, and sensibility.
Who has the luxury to live a life of “thriving”?
I actually believed nurturing a vision of “thriving” was selfish.
I was inspired to live life according to what the outside world told me defined a “successful” and “good” life.
I did all the things: invested copious amounts of energy and money in the world of academia, devoted much of my time, attention, and heart to a career in public education, married a man who was also taught to value safety, security, and sensibility, have babies, and then commence the dizzying dance to balance all the ‘balls’ that often accompany these roles and responsibilities.
And oh, how I danced.
For over a decade, I danced. I juggled. I smiled.
I said ‘yes’, ‘of course’, and ‘what more can I do?”,
all while struggling to wipe sweat from my brow and catch my racing breath.
Instead of experiencing peace, love, and faith, as the Enneagram suggests,
I was often experiencing anger, shame (sadness), and fear (anxiety).
I felt I couldn’t slow down. I didn’t know how to say no.
I didn’t believe I was worthy of setting boundaries that aligned with my best interest.
So, I continued to dance.
And juggle, and dance, and juggle.
Until my body screamed for my attention. My body demanded change.
I was confronted by the necessity of slowing my pace, creating healthy boundaries,
and reorienting my life in ways that honoured rest, health, and healing.
Nothing about this pivot point in my life was easy.
After 15 years, I left my career.
My family and I chose to move to an area that supported our vision of a desired life.
I have been investing in meeting new people and developing a supportive community.
I have surrendered my old ideas of what peace, love, and faith look like,
And I am leaping in ways I would have never before dared to imagine.
I have learned that in order for me to create a life where I can thrive,
I have needed to surrender many of the strategies that I used to merely survive.
My beliefs are changing. My values are shifting.
I am facing the anger, shame (sadness), and fear (anxiety) that I spent many years of my life trying desperately to avoid or protect against.
So much of this work is about carving space to assess the pieces that have comprised our lives before choosing how to make changes.
We are each offered opportunities to change, grow, and evolve.
How do you respond to these opportunities in your life?
How might you embrace the whisper of whatever season is calling for change in your life?
Herein lies the power of change:
WE HAVE THE ABILITY TO EVOLVE & THRIVE,
RATHER THAN SIMPLY SURVIVE,
OUR LIVES!
