Our lives and the world flow through different stages of energy. We expand and contract.
We can’t be fully growing and expanding all the time. We’d explode, right?
Cells in our body that never stop growing – that’s cancer.
The universe is constantly cycling through expansion and contraction. Things grow and then they die. Empires rise and fall. Even our moods go up and down. This what alchemy is- things coagulate and then dissolve. This creates life force, maybe it is the Force.
Dissolving is very important. If a tree falls in the forest, it needs to decay. All the little critters and the happy little fungus and bacteria come out and they dissolve that tree back to its component elements. Then they can be reused and lots of other new things can be created with those liberated atoms and elements.
The dissolving part is tough for us humans. We love creation and growth and we flip out a little when we can’t sustain that. What do we do when the economy is not growing? Freak out. And yet everything expands and contracts. It’s the nature of the universe.
Learning to manage our emotions through the contractions, the changes, the subsequent loss is important. And so is faith that when something leaves something better is soon around the corner to take its place. The country and the world are changing. We are living at the turning of the tide, deep in the flux.Many of us have had substantial losses. I have too. I choose to live in the faith that something better is coming as I let go of the old. It’s all too easy to give into fear- it’s all around us and yet I choose faith in the process of the universe. Faith and curiosity comfort me and so does dealing with my grief in the moment when it arises.
The Universe is always ready to give you an upgrade, but just like your cell phone company, you have to give up the old one.
When we are in a contraction cycle it’s also good to rest and renew. It’s a great time for self care. And a time to clean out the old. Clearing clutter can really help. I am going to Mari Kondo the heck out of my basement, attic and garage. I am going to finish old projects (Chapter 6!) and maybe just chill out a bit. Weed the garden. Walk in the sunlight.
I know that resisting what is only creates more pain and suffering for me. And going with the flow is freedom
