Catharsis

“We are in a time as thick with uncertainty as with possibility.”    

– Krista Tippett, On Being Podcast, Future of Hope Series

Release

This is a time of deep change. We are releasing what is gone, hopes we may have had before this change, negative emotions generated by this change and things that no longer fit in our worlds. Inherent in release is loss. Even when something is gone, we are reluctant and hang on. It takes us time to let go.

In times of release there is uncertainty. The act of release is a middle ground. It takes time to be ready to release (mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually). Until release is accomplished (and sometimes for a time after) we do not know what will come next. It is a natural order of things. We have no certainty of what is to come, at the time that we release.

Sitting side by side with uncertainty is possibility. When the future is unknown, we have a blank canvas and opportunities to create the future that we want to see. Times of uncertainty are filled with Openings. They may be challenging or even incomplete ones, but they beckon us to release and move. We must not obscure the Openings available in uncertainty with our fear.

Purging

We are in a time of purging. Of letting go of what no longer serves us. Purging has a purifying effect. We are moving out of what was and readying ourselves for the future we will create. Purging is uncomfortable. It can be rapid, painful and unsettling. But it changes us and helps us cope with these times. Purging takes courage and strength, even if it is forced on us.

How else can we be ready for a future that will be very different from what we knew before? New aspects of ourselves, to fit a new world, will be called on and developed. At times, the parts of ourselves that no longer fit will not work and must be purged. This deep change is forcing us to evolve and enter a new world.

It is a time of discovery – of what must leave and what to make room for. As we purge and purify, possibility increases. We are ready and have let go of the past. We are asked to be comfortable in the uncertainty and to see it as the powerful force it is. Within uncertainty, lies all kinds of possibility.

Coming Back To Ourselves

With purging and releasing done, we begin to return to ourselves. This is a return to our center but our center has changed. We do not return to the world we once knew or to the version of ourselves that used to be. We stabilize in the world that exists now. We become present to the world and take in the realities of our current existence.

As we come back to ourselves, observation is our friend. We can look around and take things in. What are we seeing? How have our lives changed? What is still unknown? We sharpen our ability to be comfortable in a present with many unknowns. We look for Openings that tell us how to live and what to do in our current reality.

It can be unsettling to come back to ourselves in an uncertain world filled with risk and change. But that is what we must do. There is no choice. The nature of this time is transformative and being in the past or future takes away our opportunity to make the most of this time. Control is an illusion and we best let our need for it go.

We Will Make New Openings

As we come back to ourselves, we will create new Openings along with those that appear on their own. This is our opportunity to vision the world we want to live in and how we want to live in it. We have a bare white canvas to paint on. Uncertainty and possibility are the gifts of deep change. We certainly have them now.