Each year between seasons (and I have been around for many of them) I await with childlike excitement for spring when the magic of nature transforms from the cold winter to the first hints of green. This winter, more than ever, I can’t wait to see the emerging buds celebrating their passion for life, waiting to burst with brilliant colors. Did you ever wonder how this magic happens, this total transformation from dull and grey to glorious and beautiful?
The magical transition from winter to spring demonstrates the power of transformation that resides in nature. It takes us from night to day, from hatred to love, and from sickness to health. The same power resides in the soul of each one of us. The soul yearns to shed its suffocating cloaks and claim its brilliance, a state of freedom, joy and creativity.
Our defensiveness, fears, pain, and distrust keep us imprisoned. Consciously or unconsciously we know it. We feel like we’re not fully alive or something is missing. We feel an inner emptiness and a sense of loss and in a way that is true.
The fact is that we, ourselves, are the roadblocks to our transformation, a natural process that moves life in constant cycles of evolution. It takes a decision to make a choice, commitment, and discipline to get ourselves unstuck, to undo our self-imposed stagnation. As strange as it might sound, we are attached to our contraption, it feels safe and familiar, even though it is unpleasant. We hold on to our fears and pain because freedom feels dangerous. We long for it and distrust it at the same time.
Our feelings might come out gushing. We are terrified of the intensity of our emotions. At one point in my life when I was consciously releasing difficult emotions, I remember feeling painfully brittle when sobbing. It felt as if I was shattered into small pieces. I had to find courage and self-acceptance, again and again, to continue the healing process.
Many of us are looking for easy ways to feel good. I did the same in my younger years. We try to find comfort in things, substances, fame, glory, approval, and avoidance. This kind of comfort works for a short time and then we need more different and better.
Needless to say, this is a kind of comfort that far from facilitating transformation is the opposite of growth, and ultimately, it is deadening to the spirit and soul. If we want to transform, we need to tolerate what is uncomfortable. We need to take ourselves out of the protective box and claim our aliveness. We need to take risks, open up, and express ourselves.
Living with a passion for the truth and the courage to discover it connects us to the power of transformation: a power that lives within us, guiding our journey.