Tonight I have invited Sheri Levenstein Conaway to share one of her blog posts with you. Sheri is a prolific blogger who writes from the heart. As soon as I read the post you’re about to read, my reaction was ‘I wish I’d written that post’! Naturally then, I wanted to share it with my readers and Sheri was gracious enough to let me do so.
Change comes to all of us, whether we like it or not, but Sheri gives us hope that despite the changes we will become a stronger person if we are just willing to learn the lesson.
Nicola
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The 16th Major Arcana card is the Tower. This card seems to imply disaster, loss and catastrophic events. But the real implication is change. Sometimes that change must and will take cataclysmic forms such as earthquakes, tornadoes and other natural disasters. But most of the time, it just means that something needs to be released in order to make room for something better.
Or to put it more graphically, the old structure must be torn down, leaving nothing but the firm foundation upon which it was built, to leave room for an even stronger, more secure, more functional structure to be built upon that foundation.
If you think back over your life to times when you believed that you’d suffered a loss. As time went by, it became evident that the loss was really just clearing the way for a better opportunity.
While we are in the midst of the emotional side of loss or, let’s call it what it is, change, we fail to recognize that what is leaving our lives has served its purpose and must be removed to make way for new opportunities, new challenges, and yes, even new people.
Think of a field where a crop is grown. The crop reaches maturity, is harvested, and the ground must now be plowed to turn under what’s left of the old to make way for new seeds and, ultimately, a new crop.
Sometimes, we try to hold too tightly to that which has been outgrown. At such times, we will see a cataclysmic event which wrests that which is no longer needed from our grasp.
I’ve had my share of losses over the years, from death to job loss, from an end to a marriage to friends parting ways. But each loss has eventually led to something better and stronger. Friendships which are based on mutual strengths rather than mutual weaknesses. Learning to stand alone so that I can be a better partner. Even removal of someone from my life who made it difficult for me to be my very best me.
The process repeats, over and over, in small ways and large. And each time we rebuild, we rebuild smarter, stronger, and with better tools than the time before.
At this point in my life, I’m busy tearing down the walls of my comfort zone. It isn’t without a certain amount of pain and, yes, trepidation, but I know that it’s time for them to go.
I’ve talked about change a lot in the last few months, and I’m no less convinced that major changes are upon us than I was when I first began feeling that something in the air. I am also no more certain of the direction these changes will take, but I do know that some of them will be painful for a time, until the rebuilding process begins and the new growth becomes evident.
Until then, I guess we need to just buckle our seatbelts, keep our hands and arms inside the car and, above all, enjoy the ride! It’s sure to be an E Ticket
My gratitudes tonight are:
1. I am grateful for change as it keeps me from becoming complacent.
2. I am grateful for dance nights with my crazy friends.
3. I am grateful for endings because they mean new beginnings.
4. I am grateful that my lungs survived my body’s attempt to cough them up over the last couple of days.
5. I am grateful for a strong, resilient, healthy body that is ready for the next wild ride.
Love and light.
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I hope you’ve enjoyed Sheri’s post as much as I did! You can visit Sheri’s blog ‘Sheri’s Journey. Surviving, Thriving and Finding my Joy’ here.
Have you experienced loss – change – only to find that further along it was the best that could’ve happened to you? I look forward to hearing your thoughts and comments!