Here is a nasty double bind. So many people I know are just trying to tread water while their lives heave and change. At the same time the suffering in our communities calls for major changes on many levels. We resist and long for change at the same time!
What’s more there is the frustration of empty change. How many changes are like new outfits dressing our steady state of unhappiness? New romances that repeat the same patterns? New elected officials that don’t change the system?
It took many years for me to identify the change I long for is a sense of transformation, of evolving into something new and more alive.
For something to evolve – not simply change – there must be love. I love to picture this by spelling love backwards.
Love = Evol(ution)
Take a moment to assess how this is true for you. How has falling in love also been a time when you have been transformed?
Falling in love with a newborn baby is a classic example of how love changes our idea of who we are. A loving relationship can give new confidence in yourself. Love of an idea creates possibilities for your work. As you fall in love with a river you might find yourself letting go of worries and accessing a deeper calm.
If you find yourself griping about change – either too much or not enough – see what would happen if you turned your focus to evolution, to love.
How can a health challenge be an opportunity to fall more in love with your body?
How can climate change be an opportunity to fall more in love with the earth?
How can this election season be an opportunity to fall more in love with our diverse country?
In all these instances love is the gateway for finding the deep transformation that we long for.
I send my love to you – and may it support you in becoming ever more alive.
Emily
Looking to find your place in the big evolutionary story?
Join me for the final workshop in the series Evolving into the Fullness of Love: Meditations on Body and Earth.
Looking for a supportive practice that helps your heart to turn towards love?
Join the Healing Waters Qigong practice group. Or use song and dance to build community and a sacred relationship with place through Living Wisdom.
