There’s been a lot of talk about change lately; not only in the collective, but also in very personal ways for many people, including myself. There is a call on many levels for what has been to dissolve and for something new to take its place.
Over the last few weeks I was reminded of the difference between change and transformation: change is external and transformation is internal. One cannot happen without the other. Either something external to us changes and we have to transform to meet it, or we transform and that which we have been wanting to change suddenly does.
Like me, I’m sure you all know this somewhere in your bones, but it’s so difficult to re-member when we’re longing so much for something to be different than it is. We find ourselves holding to illusions of what we want and know to be possible rather than acknowledging what is actually real. And the more we don’t let ourselves feel what’s real, the tighter we hold to our illusions…
The only way to move into what is possible is to feel what is real right now. And when we feel what is real, if it doesn’t match what we want, we get to change it. But we can’t directly change the external event, thing or person by simply wishing it were different. That’s a way of negating the truth that is disempowering and usually rife with agendas, illusions and expectations. It just won’t work. Instead, we have to transform. But how?
With transformation we are called to not only feel what is real, but also to feel what it would feel like to be living the possible. And when I say feel, I don’t just mean emotionally, but also literally in your body and your breath. Think of an aspect of your life where you’re longing for change. Feel what it actually is like right now. And then feel what you want and know to be possible-feel how open your chest gets, how deep your breath becomes, how weight drops off your shoulders, how peaceful and alive you feel.
Rather than waiting for external reality to change so that you can get to a point where you can feel this all the time, claim this feeling as your own and commit to it. Use this feeling as your guidance for making decisions. That is, make choices that support you feeling the way you do when you are imagining living what is possible. This feeling is your TRUTH, and the more you choose to align with it, the more you will inspire external reality to align with inner truth.
It may sound like woo-woo fluff, and it’s definitely easier said than done, but it works because it is spiritual teaching grounded in the wisdom of the body, and all it takes is your commitment to this very clear feeling. “Can I stay in alignment with this feeling of truth when I hang out with this friend? Is eating this in alignment with that feeling? Is this choice I’m making right now, no matter how small, in alignment?” You’ll find you become intolerant for any choice that doesn’t support this feeling. You’ll also find that you’re creating soil that is rich for the change you are longing for to take root in and sprout.
So as we come into the month of the return of Spring when the body of the earth is receiving the seeds of what is possible and cultivating the sprouting of new growth, so may our bodies.
This makes sense. When you put it this way, it even seems easy!