Being an Integrative Health Coach, I often find myself noticing how things are interconnected. Not only in our physiology, yet in life. My background as a birth doula, for example, gave me a unique perspective on life transitions.
So, I would love to continue the theme from last month’s newsletter and expand on this topic.
Life transitions and the power of letting go.
As with most things in life, and especially with natural childbirth, there is no way out but through. At some point in the arduous task of labor, a woman must find the courage to let go as her body opens up inside and she gives birth to newborn life. I witnessed this courage on so many different occasions while supporting my clients to give birth. So much energy being channeled through the body at once. When childbirth finally takes place, life is never the same. Birth has happened and the power of letting go is the divine grace that made it so.
I see life in the same perspective.
The transitions we go through in life are calling us to let go. We can either fight them and struggle, intensifying the pressure, and contract. Or we can drop into our breath, FEEL the emotions moving through our body, honor them, and allow space for divine flow. As in childbirth, our breath becomes the portal to connect us with this divine flow.
I have noticed in my own life that when I'm finally able to give things up to a Higher Power, amazing things begin to shift. Real transformation happens.
This month, I said goodbye to my childhood home where my parents have lived for the past 53 years. So much life history in that home. From moving boxes, to emptying out my childhood bedroom, and taking a final walk through the house, I found myself with no choice but to simply let go.
It brings up grief and gratitude for the enormity of this change. A huge chapter has now closed, and new beginnings are on the horizon.
It is what we do with these “in between” places in our lives that makes all the difference. How are we letting go? How are we showing up in these moments of uncertainty and flowing with the changes? Are we turning towards the emotions that live in our body with compassionate presence or suppressing them and turning away?
How we show up matters.
What if your greatest pain that you have carried inside is actually your greatest gift to the world? You may be pondering that. So, I’ll rephrase. Think about the areas of your life where you have struggled the most. Does something in particular come to mind? Once you have that clear inside, look at it like this. What if that area where you have struggled is actually in the process of BIRTHING your greatest triumph?
Going back to childbirth, as a woman experiences labor pains, the pressure in her body intensifies. Although the process leading up to birth may feel painful and never-ending, the final shift through transition brings the miraculous gift of new life. It is God’s grace working through us and how women for hundreds of years have given birth through the miracle of their own bodies.
The same is true in our own lives.
How we learn to connect with our breath and channel life force energy moving through us becomes a sacred portal to our own awakening. To our own sense of ALIVENESS.
I recently heard a quote by Joseph Campbell that states “We’re so engaged in doing things to achieve purposes of outer value that we forget the inner value, the rapture that is associated with being fully ALIVE, is what it’s all about.”
This freedom and aliveness happen through the power of letting go.
So, what in your own life is calling you to let go? What kind of meaningful purpose are you being called to step into? To create? Is there an area of your life where you are currently struggling? If so, remember this: We must open up TO the pain inside to move beyond it and into a higher purpose. So, your prayer to release this pain and transmute it can be: “Make me a channel for divine creativity. Ground me in the energy of love so that I know I AM love. May I be an instrument for higher good.”
You can say it out loud, write it down, or meditate on this prayer. Then your next step is finding the courage to simply let go. As you begin to see the power in this simple act, you surrender control and begin to understand that courage and vulnerability connect us to our own humanity. The birthplace of JOY, love, belonging, and connection.
As we begin to show up differently in our lives, we are actually allowing room for a Higher Power to work through us. Just as a woman giving birth finds the courage to let go and her new baby takes its first breath, equally do we take our first breath of new life when we find the courage to let go during our own transitions.
We step into incredible aliveness!
My word for 2023 is Flow.
Being in divine flow with life, trusting a Higher Power, and staying grounded in the spirit of love.
I would like to conclude with the metaphor of a Monarch butterfly. I am fascinated and in awe of these beautiful creatures. If you have ever watched the step-by-step journey that a butterfly goes through during its transformation, it is nothing short of miraculous. It even changes the cellular blueprint of this little creature’s makeup. Unbelievable! So, with that in mind, think of your life from this perspective. As life is calling you to let go, you are also changing the cellular blueprint of your own health and well-being. You are shifting out of "dis-ease" into greater ease and flow with life.
You are stepping into your own aliveness!
Whether in some big way or small, trust that God’s grace is intimately woven throughout the fabric of your life.
Know that I am holding space for your greatness that is unfolding. It is unfolding in more beautiful ways than you can imagine!
