Change

Life Transitions

“Nothing is secure but life, transitions, and the energizing spirit.”

                                                Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Disenchantment, whether it is a minor disappointment, or a major shock, is the signal that things are moving into transition in our lives.”

                                                William Bridges

“When our first parents were driven out of Paradise, Adam is believed to have remarked to Eve, ‘My dear, we live in an age of transition.’”

                                                Dean Inge

            Transitions are necessary changes from one life stage to another, from one way of identifying ourselves to another, from one way of perceiving the world to another.  Transitions mark our personal evolution from infancy to old age and our societal evolution from agrarian to digital.  In the best of all worlds, each transition is informed by the lessons of the pervious stages.  Even though transitional stages are as inevitable as death and taxes, we resist and delay them as long as possible because we humans hate change, and because the feelings that go with transitions are uncomfortable.

Some transitions are ushered in with a bang; like the first time we see “positive” on a pregnancy test or when the planes flew into the World Trade Center.  Others come in with a sigh, like the first hot-flash that signals the beginning of middle age.  Sometimes we wake up in the middle of the night and know with every cell of our bodies, “I can’t do this any more.” Sometimes there is a slow dawning marked by irritability, discontent and generalized unease.  However transitions come, they move in only one direction.  There is no going back, one can only go forward.  We can go forward by choice and with grace, or we can go kicking and screaming, but one way or another, we will go forward.

In our personal lives, transitions come in clusters.  Adolescence is a good example.  We go from being carefree, innocent children to mini-adults with pressure to succeed.  Unfortunately, that adult body does not come imbued with sound judgment or confidence.  Little wonder adolescence is typically chaotic.  For those of us at retirement age, a similar uncomfortable transition takes place as all the props by which we identified ourselves fall away.  We may feel disconnected, adrift and vulnerable.

At each stage, whether personal or societal, the energizing spirit is critical.  It moves us through the disorder to a place of stability and tranquility.  Every stage has both pitfalls and profound possibilities.  As we watch the changes in the Middle East and Africa, we are seeing a major world transition.  There will be no going back, and there will be confusion.  Let us hold them in the light of love as this transition moves forward, and pray that the chaos ushers in an age of peace and prosperity.   

                                                            In the spirit,

                                                            Jane