transitions...beginnings

The other day I read this blog about transitions and I found it very interesting and thought I would add my two-cents to some of their thoughts. One quote I like very much was: “transitions begin with endings and end with beginnings." You spend time looking at endings in our lives and the thoughts, feelings, and beliefs that accompanied those endings. Sometimes we can see patterns and sometimes not, and sometimes endings don’t end they just jump right to the beginnings. Endings are often shattering in our lives, not because they are always bad, but because they change our lives in such a way that we will never be the same. Sometimes, after giving ourselves adequate time to process the endings, we find ourselves in "the neutral zone," or the time of "do nothingness." I think that this “nothingness” would be a hard stage to stay in for very long.

A great image of this whole concept is walking up a hill and stopping to rest halfway up, and taking time to look back at where one has been and ahead at what is coming. Mostly, just resting (or napping, which ever comes first)…then comes the beginning of something new. Which reminds me of something I wrote a long time ago after receiving a letter from a good friend about beginnings… “Beginnings are hard. Beginnings are good. Beginnings move us forward in a way we never thought they would. You cannot swallow all the world at one time. Be patient, especially with a beginning that you make by yourself. Those are the hardest beginnings of all and they are the most powerful.”

So, in this election year, and in our lives, hopefully the transitions that will be coming will be good ones with lots of hope for our future and peace in our hearts. A transition is not a negative place, but a powerful place; a place that says something good is to come.