When Your Life turns Upside Down

When Your Life Turns Upside Down
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Between letting go (of the old) and successfully launching the new there is a time of confusion and emptiness. People often feel lost during this time, and too often they interpret that lostness as yet another sign that something is wrong. It is simply a sign that they have entered the fertile chaos of the neutral zone -- William Bridges

I don't know too many people who love to go through a life transition. About 90% of the calls I receive for intuitive consultations are from people who are contemplating a career change, beginning or ending a relationship, or are coping with a tangible or intangible loss of some kind in their life. I frequently hear people telling me that they're "stuck" or "in a rut" and yet most are in that limbo state called transition.

It often feels like being lost in the woods. There seem to be no obvious markers that say, "this way to safety." If you look up the word "transition" in the dictionary, you'll see definitions like "passing from one to another," "transformation," a "passage," "major change," "shift" and "development." Even though you may feel stuck, these are words that indicate movement and change. Sometimes it seems there is no apparent progress towards your hopes and dreams. You feel scared that you're falling apart and might be in this "no place" forever. You may feel stuck, and yet often it’s that uncomfortable shift from one place in your life to the next where the most growth occurs.

When I'm in this transition zone and fear that nothing is happening, I find comfort in the example of tulips. You plant them in the fall and they come up in the spring. In the intervening months, there appears to be nothing going on. You wouldn't think of digging them up in the middle of winter and yelling at them that they're "stuck" and admonishing them to "grow faster!" They are doing exactly what they need to do. And when all the circumstances needed for their flowering are in the right place, they appear and bloom. The same is true for your transitions. The wisdom that guides the flowers guides your life as well.

Everyone experiences transition many times during the course of a lifetime. It feels unpleasant because it requires that you let go of the known, the familiar, what you've come to think of as safe. You know where you've been but you don't know where you're headed. Many people deal with this discomfort by trying to go back to the old. It's like trying to stuff the toothpaste back in the tube. You want the old job back or you attempt to re-establish a relationship that is no longer viable. When you feel bored, restless, or out-of-sorts, it's a call from your intuition that it's time for a change. You call on your Higher Power to help you and it responds with encouragement to release the old to make room for the new.

We hear of people trying to "cope" with change. That word implies struggle. If at all possible try to embrace change. Author Margaret Drabble wrote, "When nothing is sure, everything is possible." The fact that you're uncomfortable doesn't mean you're doing something wrong. It just means that change is happening and you - like most people - feel anxious when it occurs. This transition zone can be a very creative time. Your life is up in the air, but anything and everything is possible.

The Universe is helping you move the old, resistant places in yourself to allow something new, fresh and invigorating to take its place. I've found that, as difficult as it is, the most helpful attitude is to embrace the transition. The one true thing about transitions is that they have an end. You will land on solid ground once more. It will just be in a different place than you've ever been before. There's an old saying, "When everything is breaking up, something new is breaking through."

Times of transition are a study in contradiction. At the point you want to rail at the Universe for causing this change in your life, you also need to trust the wisdom of this same Force to bring about the transformation you need. Intuition is extremely helpful in transition, as it will point the way to the path that will take you to your new life. However, it's also challenging to attempt to find a balance between taking time to listen to your intuition, and taking action to put your inner guidance into motion. Victor Hugo said this well, "Have courage for the great sorrows of life, and patience for the small ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace. God is awake."

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LynnRobinson.com
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Shared with Love and Light,Namaste Rosalie xo