We are all in the middle of changes that have no timeline or clear outline, so how will it all define the true you as you transform?
Wow…now that’s a way to begin a blog post!
Joking aside, in some way or another we are each being asked to dig deep internally to connect with what’s true for us now, and transform externally by being flexible without forcing personal expectations. This push/pull energy is intense, and in many ways is the “face” of 2020. No longer able to ignore what we don’t want to see or can’t accept, we are being asked to see and hear the truth of our raw selves, and others, equally. And it’s about time.
Without a reason to change or look at ourselves beyond the surface level, it requires a challenge (or two) to shake us up. It also takes a willingness to sit with the fear of what’s next, a healthy dose of asking how, and if, we fit into the new picture in forming – and the value we put on ourselves throughout the self-inquiry process. Having so much up in the air makes it easy to lose faith in yourself and dreams, as well as your ability to achieve them, while remaining open to joy and unexpected gifts, too.
There is no clear road map for life right now, and in many ways, we are realizing there never was in the first place. To evolve as an individual and world community means honoring others’ voices while opening to the truth of your own, fully and completely. So I will ask again, at the most basic level – can you see, own and appreciate the true you as you transform, and if not, why not?
Opening Sometimes Means Closing, Too
If there’s one thing I’ve noticed as of late in my own transformation journey it’s my desire to make incompatible things true. In some cases it shows up as a simple passing thought, “Wouldn’t it be nice if things worked out in this order according to my desire”, and ranges all the way to unknowingly forcing an outdated mindset to stay in place to avoid feeling bad, wrong, or unsure.
We can all relate to placing blame upon ourselves for our current circumstances, and relate it back to a previous choice or path. Welcome to being human and having a heart! Yet, even when we notice and deeply feel the impacts of self-blame, changing our thoughts and actions to something more supportive can feel like a pretty big ask.
To help identify and understand the ways we strengthen our own mental chains without even trying, it helps to practice what I like to call “road closures.” If you can pinpoint things you do, feel, or think daily without even trying, it’s similar to having a super highway in your brain. These grooves are deep and well worn because the thoughts and actions being carried out are simple and natural to complete, even when some of them make you feel bad.
However, if you decide on a thought, fear, emotional struggle point or pathway you want to change, you can actively create an imaginary “road closure”. In other words, if known pathways are “off limits”, you need to be creative, open to options and problem solve to find new options and ways forward.
Being open to a new way forward is essential when old ones no longer create progress and joy. And once victim thinking takes over and combines the same old behaviors and attitudes, how can we feel powerful, creative or open to the new? We aren’t allowing space to do it differently because our mind keeps going by what it already “knows” and “believes”, rather than what’s possible, when the mind’s “super highway” is closed for reconstruction.
The Reconstruction Process Clears Out The Untrue and Builds a Healthy Foundation
Practicing this mental awareness exercise for a few days in a row will give you a new perspective and understanding of the feelings at the root of an undesired thought loop, while offering an opportunity to take active, deliberate next steps. When you know the “road closures” are temporary, it allows you to build a new and nuanced approach that’s healthy and supportive, rather than feeling forced or stuck forever.
The path ahead for all of us is one of big change. It needs a healthy foundation to clear out the untrue, and generate a truth that serves as the seeds for new growth. You are strongest when you can see, integrate, and grow from a place of personal truth that makes it easy to be yourself and live joyfully as best you can.
I can’t predict the future, nor do you want me to. However, I do know the more we can live by the truth in our hearts, the more we open to and explore what makes us feel empowered and inspired to help create real change that goes beyond the self. If we can each do that independently, just think of what we can do when we are called together to join our perspectives, gifts, and abilities!
So be like the moon. Shift. Clear out the old. Build. Regenerate. Begin again – again and again. Use the moon as a guide to a simple path that enables you to wax and wane when you need to, trusting you will be strong, full and powerful once again, over and over again, throughout your lifetime. Can you allow yourself to appreciate all aspects of the true you as you transform?
Interested in reading similar posts? Check out Practicing Creative Closure and Coming to Peace With What Is and Owning and Understanding the Essence of Our Inner Work. For some 1-1 consulting time, set up an appointment with me on my Creative Katrina home page or send me an email. My group coaching offered through my Creative Mastermind is also a really great way to connect with me and other creatives moving through similar challenges. If podcasts are more your deal, check out mine at Flirting With Enlightenment.