Navigating Transitions

Using the energy of Spring and the Air element to assist in life transitions

I have been musing on transitions:  life cycles, project cycles, motherhood cycles, business cycles, relationship cycles. Everything in life is a cycle, not a linear beginning and ending. Everything has its season, and when we honor the transitions, create stillness, and understand what our point of equilibrium is (not what everyone else's idea of balance is) we face change more gracefully and with some sense of ease.

I think of the beauty and grace of a musician or a dancer. I have been watching my son play guitar since he was 8, he is now 18 and has performed on some of the biggest stages in Colorado. The difference I see is his ability to transition fluidly with his fingers between totally different pieces of much more complex instead of abrupt starts and stops, and because he is acknowledging the stillpoint and flowing to the next thing it has brought his music from beginner to performer level. A dancer does the same thing, she anticipates the music and through her embodied movement change seamlessly transitions so gracefully that no one externally has any idea what is going on, doesn't even notice it. How do they do this? Through the paradox of stillness in action, being present while still being aware of what is about to come, by not thinking about what just came before, because then the musician or dancer would stop dead in their tracks, and because they:

PRACTICE THEIR CRAFT

And so it is in life, we can't know our future, but we can create the conditions for the future we would like to have by practicing our craft, the craft of:

Life

And because we are entering the season of Spring, and the Element of Air this is the time of transitions, of fertility, of the winds of change blowing us from the dark of winter to the fire of summer. How do we slow down long enough to honor that, and honor the transitions? It’s a practice, one that if you choose to work with; slowing down in order to be in right action with what life has to present you I guarantee you will face change and transition with ease and grace. Even the difficult and painful ones.

I have been talking to so many women that are in transition both big and small. Death, divorce, career changes and shifts, retirement and finding themselves anew, motherhood transitions, relationship transitions, even the time change is a transition as is the season change. Many are just feeling a sense of change afoot but not being able to pinpoint it. We are all going through a transition of one kind or another because as I said our lives are cyclical, as is nature. But often we do not honor or even stop to take a moment to acknowledge that we are transitioning, and we don't give ourselves a chance to catch our breath. Which is why spring is the perfect time to do that, and if you don't have a daily slowing down practice, it’s time to start. Like a pilot, we don't just get in the plane and keep flying without stopping, we must first stop to look at the path and the map and determine the flight plan, then we have to stop to recharge and refuel, or guess what?

We crash and burn.

We can't keep running on empty, with no navigation systems in place. And for us we have to have a daily practice to check the tank and the instrument panels, but we also have to take longer pauses to create ritual and ceremony and take a visionary look at the flight plan, so we are taking the path that encounters the least amount of stormy weather as possible, also knowing when we take these pauses that we have created the internal conditions to make it through the changes and the storms too. And when those things come up, we don't go into emergency mode and lose an engine.

This year the Equinox is on the 19th, this is a perfect time to honor the transitions, access your visionary self, and gain clarity on moving from one cycle to the next and what that looks like FOR YOU from a heart- centered and clear place. This is the time to create a short ceremony honoring the element of air, the winds of change, taking a breath, and stopping to notice the transitions you are in, instead of "moving on" to the next thing without honoring the ending of the other. When we honor an ending in this way, just like the dancer or musician we don't get stuck in it without realizing it but move through it gracefully; allowing it to open us to the possibility and beauty of what is coming next.

The Equinox is also about balance and equilibrium; that may not mean a 50/50 balance of anything, but a sense of finding your own balance point on the continuum that is your life. Our focuses may be stronger in one area of our life in this cycle than in others, and that is OK. Once you let go of the idea that all areas of your life need get equal attention, all of the time, you actually reduce the overwhelm. So the practice is asking yourself everyday what is in my joy to focus on? What does my heart and soul desires?  And give your full presence and attention to that.  The old saying where attention goes, energy flows is true.

Conversely, getting truthful about what you have been completely ignoring and how that is showing up for you. Ask yourself “how is ignoring ______effecting me?” How is ignoring those things feeling in your body, manifesting in your emotions, or effecting your soul?

I encourage you to use the magic of Spring and the Air Element to bring clarity and movement to where you are choosing to put your life force energy and take a stand for what is most important to you.

I have also shared a video on a few things you can do to create a ritual and practice to work with the energies of the Spring Equinox. (It is a few years old so please ignore references to future live events).