This week has been full of laughter and tears. I have been soaking up my time here in Buenos Aires. My emotions are mixed between excitement to go back to the States and sadness for leaving BA. I am splitting my time between packing up our home, spending time with friends, and teaching my final classes with the beloved Buena Onda yoga. In these last couple of weeks here, I am looking back over the past three years and all that has happened in my life.
Transition is never easy and moving is always stressful. In this post, I will share with you some of the big things I am learning as well as the major things I am actively practicing as I go through this transition.
These are the 3 big things I am learning through this transition:
1. The unfolding of life patterns.
My life and my understanding of self have grown so much over the past few years. I look back at the course of my life and see all of the intricate steps and decisions that led me up to this point. The road I have traveled is a beautiful pattern of love and heartache, decisions and synchronicity, chances and discoveries.
We can ever predict the pattern our life will make in the future. But as we look back, we can see the pattern that our life has taken. And, if we pay close attention, we can catch glimpses of it unfolding before us.
It makes me think of this poem from "The Book of Awakening," by Mark Nepo:
The Courage of the Seed
All the buried seeds
Crack open in the dark
The instant they surrender
To a process they can't see.
A seed grows courageously in darkness, not knowing what it will become. That is how our lives are every minute, every day. We just have to keep growing, keep trusting that we will blossom into something powerful and beautiful.
2. Every second is an opportunity for transformation.
What I love about major transitions is that they provide this tangible opportunity to transform self; to start anew; to reinvent my life. But I am realizing that the truth is: every second, every breath we take is an opportunity to transform ourselves.
We don't have to wait for some point in the future to change. We can (we have to, even) start now. We don't just morph into something new, we have to do the work every day in order to grow and adjust and, ultimately, to create a life of meaning.
3. Community is everything
As I go through this move, I am reminded me how vital community is in the journey of growth and development. The people with whom we surround ourselves have a huge impact on who we are and who we become.
I was fortunate enough to find a loving and intentional community while living in Buenos Aires. And that community has helped further my growth in a huge way. I will miss them so much but I know that community exists over great distance. I also know (as they lovingly reminded me the other day) that I have all of the capacity within me to find and cultivate community wherever I move, just as I did here.
These are the 5 big things I am actively practicing over the course of the transition:
1. Getting rid of stuff that no longer serves me.
I have a crap ton of stuff that I don’t use or wear, and some I don’t even like! But I hold on to it *just in case*… I think, what if I need or want something like that in the future? But all this stuff weighs me down and I don't want to move across the world with things I don't need. So, I have been actively trying to get rid of as much stuff as possible. As I do, I feel so much lighter and I am reminded how important it is to create more space! Gosh it feels good.
2. Finding little ways to enjoy the difficult parts of moving.
As we all know, moving is a pain in the butt. And for some reason I always seem to "forget" how stressful it is until I am in the throws of a new move. This time, I am trying to find ways to enjoy the moving process more. It is not going to be all roses and butterflies but I am finding that I can enjoy some parts of it.
For example, I love strategy and organization. I love to think through the best way to solve a problem and get stuff done efficiently. So, I am approaching packing as if it is a game of strategy. I am moving things around in a way that will increase preparedness, avoid confusion, and ensure we have everything we need when we need it.
3. Taking it easy on myself.
Due to the stress of moving, I am making sure that I am taking care of myself. I have a tendency to push myself hard to get things done. But throughout this move I am trying to reverse that tendency and take it easy on myself. I am working when I need to work and resting when I need to rest. Sounds simple but it can be hard in practice. However, I know that if I am not taking it easy on myself and giving myself time to chill out, I will burn out, fall apart and not be able to do anything.
4. Being mindful of the person I have become and continue to take steps to further that self.
It has taken me awhile to get to the point I am now. I have grown a lot over the past three years. I also know that I have a lot of growth left to do in this lifetime. As I am faced with big changes and stressors, I am working hard to not revert back to old tendencies. I want to stay mindful of the growth I have made and see if I can use it to find new ways of approaching old situations. We did this international move three years ago; can I go through this coming move with more grace and compassion than I did the last one? So, I am pulling on the new tools I have cultivated to help, such as meditation, eating mindfully, practicing self care. I can already feel the difference.
5. Trusting.
There are a lot of unknowns in any move, especially this one. So, I continue my journey of settling into trust. It is a constant lesson and practice. So, I am trusting life to continue to unfold. I am trusting in myself to walk boldly forward on this path of mystery and wonder. And I am trusting the universe to support me and provide for me the lessons I need to learn in this life. Trust, Trust, Trust. Love, Love, Love.
Please share your own experiences with big transitions!
Have you been through a big transition in your life recently? I would love to know what you did or learned from it. What tricks or strategies do you use to keep it together, while continuing to honor and care for yourself? What did you learn about yourself in the process?