Everything in nature transitions from one state to another. The seasons changes, the leaves change color, fall to the ground and ultimately turn into next year’s fertilizer. So too do we humans transition through emotional states, grow and develop, fall apart and grow anew. Sometimes this cycle becomes hindered and people struggle with releasing hurt, transitioning through sadness to joy or even feeling the hurt so that they can let go of their suffering.
I have recently gone through a major life change that allows many around me to also transition. I fretted over my effect on others, until I realized that I was in a way, not trusting in my fellow co-workers, patients and the local health system to adapt and progress. I was living in fear and as such, was essentially reinforcing the pattern in myself and others that change would inevitably be negative and intolerable. It was only when I stepped back and understood that by my expressing my truth and my needs, did I allow others to do the same.
I see this concept in little things all around me. It could be applied to the diet that one wants to start, the exercise routine that is planned though not acted upon, the negative relationship dynamic that is unable to find resolution or even the job that seems to go nowhere.
There are steps to be taken to bring awareness to these patterns around us. The first one involves getting in touch with the negative emotion. We often are in denial that something specific is causing our blockage. I see this in depressed patients who are unable to identify what is bothering them. It is often only when they begin to feel better that the tension with the conflict become more apparent. This can lead to anxiety and non-tolerance of the treatment as the individual is suddenly aware of the thing that they didn’t want to think about. It becomes important at that time to work with someone to find a comfort which allows us to transition through the pain instead of shoving it back into a box.
The art of transition and letting go becomes easier as it is practiced. It can seem like the most threatening thing in the world when we are not accustomed to facing the inner darkness and conflict, though as it emerges and is felt, the relief felt in releasing it, allows us to understand the process as a whole and to gain comfort in practicing it on our own.