Allow Nature to Work

We all see things about ourselves, our relationships, and our world that we want to change. Sometimes this desire leads us to take action to do the inner work that we need to do and we Then we wake up to a momentous shift to find that change has happened, seemingly without us. This can feel like a miracle as we suddenly see that our self-esteem really does seem to be intact, or our partner actually is helping out around the house more. We may even wonder whether all of our hard work had anything to do with it, or if it just happened by way of grace.

As humans, we can have short attention spans, and we can easily lose track of time. We may worry about a seedling in a pot with our constant attention and watering for several weeks only to find ourselves enjoying the blooms it offers and wondering when that happened, and how we didn't notice it. Nature, on the other hand, has infinite patience and stays with a thing all the way through its life. This doesn't mean that our efforts play no part in the miracle of change, they do. It's just that they are one small part of the picture that finally results in the flowering of a plant, the shifting of a relationship, the softening of our hearts.

The same laws that govern the growth of plants oversee our own internal and external changes. We observe, consider, work, and wonder, tilling the soil of our lives, planting seeds, and tending them. Sometimes the hard part is knowing when to stop and let go, handing it over to the universe. Usually this happens by way of distraction or disruption, our attention being called away to other more pressing concerns. And it is often at these times, when we are not looking, in the silence of nature's embrace, that the miracle of change happens.

Allow and embrace the change.

Sitting With Our Sadness

The last thing most of us want to hear or think about when we are dealing with feelings of sadness is that a deep learning can be found from it. In the center of our pain, we often feel overwhelmed by a loss, disappointed and angry, or simply too exhausted to try and examine the situation. We may not want to look for anything resembling a bright side to our suffering or to hear the only way out of it is through it. By sitting through our sadness we can allow ourselves to move through the grieving process with full inner permission to experience it and to have the ability to surrender and accept it.

There is a great lesson sadness will teach you, it is to have compassion for others who are in pain, because it is only in feeling our own pain that we can really understand and allow for someone else's. While our own individual experiences of sadness have unique lessons, what we learn is universal. The wisdom we gain from going through the process of feeling loss, heartbreak, or deep disappointment gives us access to the heart of humanity and a greater awareness.