One of Those Phases

Photo taken March 29, 2019 in Beacon Hill Park, Victoria, BC

Upsetting the balance of

any of life’s ‘phases’

rocks our worlds with 

sticks and stones or with

bright balloons and music

while we set our course in

our own uncharted waters.

Upsetting the balance of

established, yet faded, 

patterns stirs up debris scattered & stacked in closets and drawers to be waded through ~ or not ~

while we pay our bills 

do the laundry and get groceries.

Upsetting the balance of life

in the spirit of transition?

Easier to navigate with

strength, skills and beliefs 

learned from sometimes tiresome lessons

throughout life’s growing seasons.

Retirement ~ just one of those phases.

“A transition period is a period between two transition periods.”

~ George Stigler, (1911 to 1991American economist, 

1982 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences

An Open Definition 1 ~ ACCEPTANCE - Theme for November 2017

Another way to see…..

Challenging old beliefs…..

Confronting unpleasant situations……

Easing into transitions……

Participating in newness.....

Trying on new clothes……

Adjusting temperature and speed……

Navigating the rapids…..

Covering all the bases……

Exciting passages into…….

“Acceptance means events can make it through you without resistance.”

~ Michael Singer,  The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself

Listening to Voices - Repost - Revised

Self doubt - an inside job
A very personal and individual inside job.
Self doubt - an inside voice.
Quietly driving and energizing 
poverty of self-esteem.
Transition from self-doubt to healthy self-esteem
is a steep climb up a rocky cliff
never sure of footing
loose pebbles beneath
unfamiliar terrain
handholds and footholds
the roots of trees and dry grasses
threatening to trip, break bones and spirit.
Easier to stay at the bottom of the trail
in familiar but ugly terrain
unwilling to see that there are steps up and out
unaware of beauty and growth along the way
space and air at the rise of each summit.
Courage in each faltering step
also an inside job,
has a quiet voice of strength.

“Always continue the climb. It is possible for you to do whatever

you choose, if you first get to know who you are and are willing

to work with a power that is greater than ourselves to do it.”

~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Growth

Tiny wizened seeds planted in black soil, warm and moist with sunshine and dew; sprouting and growing in great green health as only plants know how to do.

We don’t see ourselves this way but we do come from microscopic seed

sprouting and growing short or tall, family and friends our soil to feed.

Growth is our transition through life

All around us within spirit and heart

Soil, sunshine and water 

we choose for ourselves to

nurture bodies, minds and hearts.

“The strongest principle of growth lies in the human choice.”

~ George Eliot

The History of Detox

Private homes seconded for detox

when it was time for a break from the drink

Hospital beds for the very sick.

Social Detoxes with three hots and a cot

when social transition was needed as bodies mounted.

Hospital beds for the very sick.

Treatment centers of thirty days or more

to teach ‘them’ what to do and when to do it.

Hospital beds for the very sick.

Medical detox facilities thinly spread

when all those programs were still not enough

Hospital beds for the very sick.

“You have to look at history as an evolution of society.”

~ Jean Chretien

Mood Magic

Pacing in great angry strides

Tears pushed back deny any shred of weakness

Vulgar words spew forth instead of fists against hard surface

Fists airpunching release explosive energy

Purpose, focus and awareness rekindle and awaken

Bent head allows tears to leak and trickle

Pacing slowed, voice softens to a whisper

Magic transition through moods unpredictable.

“The momentum of the mind can be vexingly, involuntarily capricious.”

~ Gregory Maguire, A Lion Among Men

A Midnight Ramble.....

Life’s transitions are often considered stepping stones to another level in society.

From birth to infancy, infancy to toddlerhood, toddlerhood to youngster and so on until we reach the age of graying and wisdom. Graying is almost always assured. Wisdom? Always debatable.

And then there is health to illness and hopefully back again. However the final transition is to death and passing on out of this world. Many consider an afterlife a given, others reincarnation and still others just an end. A friend from many years ago said death was just like shutting off of a light switch. There are many beliefs surrounding death and often much fear. Fear of the unknown - the ‘what if there is nothing’.  What if there is an afterlife and it’s been scoffed at it for a life time?

All that aside, I believe that a part of transition that may be overlooked really is a positioning of oneself in the present life.  Positioning for the next step is preparation. Not to be able to do any great feats of skill or strength, but just to be able to roll with the punches, play the cards that are dealt and accept the good or bad that life has to offer.

All that is easy for me to say. I am truly blessed in this life. Have I had difficult, and some downright dreadful, things to deal with. Certainly, I have. Each one of them was a transition step for me, positioning me for moving in a direction of my choice. How does one know a direction? A self proclaimed atheist, speaking to a gathered crowd, shared in no uncertain terms that direction needs to be good and orderly - Good Orderly Direction.  

What I haven’t mentioned in this ramble is intention - an inner compass that can act as a GPS or Global Postioning Sytem, to be an inner guide to these outer directions.  And so, with intention, preparation and a good dose of good orderly direction, navigating this world becomes very doable.  Are the outcomes certain?  Very seldom, and because of this faith will be the foundation for this good orderly direction.

“Faith means living with uncertainty ~ feeling your way through life,

letting your heart guide you like a lantern in the dark.”

~ Dan Millman

Progress Misses the Mark

Water cooler conversation ~

Monetary effects on employee populations shifting and changing over time.

New gadgets and programs doing numerous tasks - faster.

Why all the transitions?

Bed utilization in hospitals and residential facilities

Dollars shrinking and ballooning within departments 

Technological changes as progress progresses

paper and pen to electronic documentation 

trailing histories and life events

Touch and intuition lost as

machines and gadgets beep and whirr.

What does not transition?

An individual’s need for care when

sick of mind, body or spirit.

Touch and intuition provide

the soul within rigid tasks of technology and budgets.

“Progress is man’s ability to complicate simplicity.”

~ Thor Heyerdahl

Plateaus and Thresholds

Plateaus ~ places to breathe,

choices to run across,

stop moving and sit,

wander forward among nodding daisies. 

Transitioning across a broad plain

whether in bright sunshine or slanting rain, offers opportunity to dance and spin

in air fresh and clean, free of the dust of change until the next step is clear ~

a threshold to the future.

“Leaving the old, both worlds at once they view,

That stand upon the threshold of the new.”

~ Edmund Waller

Webbing ~ 1

Like fine, strong and silky spiderwebs

transitions trail and cling memories behind

while stretching forward hopes and dreams

in search of strength and support

joining past and future in the present.

                        “The past, the present and the future 

are really one: they are today.”

~ Harriet Beecher Stowe

Timing ~ 1

So much to do

So little time

But wait!

Time is always there!

Seconds to minutes and.....

A minute is always a minute

An hour only an hour

It’s everything I plan to do in

seconds and minutes, 

hours and days

to create the life I want.

So I’ll breathe a bit,

sit still a while,

just slow the pace today.

“Time deals gently only with those who take it gently.”

~ Antole France, The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard

Oneness

slipping through time

opening like a flower

like sun and moon 

moving through the sky

drifts of cloud piling high

or stretching thin in the wind.

nature’s transitions around and above us.

within these universal transitions,

we each bring our own changes

heart imbuing them with colour, light or darkness

mind designing structure and shape

body creating form and reality.

“The only thing which was to heal is the illusion of being separate.”

~ Wilfried Fink

Letting Go

In transition ~ whether forward or back

letting go - a skill we frequently lack

thinking not of this part of change

steps are taken that seem quite strange!

letting go of things we’ve had

peaceful life or chaos so very sad.

adjusting to bumps along the way 

habits grounding every day.

So bit by bit, things leave our grasp

Opportunities arise that we can clasp.

“Open your arms to change, but don’t let to of your values.”

~ Dalai Lama