MIND-BODY-SPIRIT The Alchemy of Change: Embrace the New, Celebrate the Unknown
BY CAROL BURBANK
These last few years have tested even the most resilient of us. We’ve heard and experienced heartbreaking stories of tragic struggles and KHURLFUHFRYHULHVKHDOLQJIURPORVVFRQÀLFWDQGLVRODWLRQ:H¶YHDOVR heard and experienced transformative stories of priority shifts in work and family, trying on new habits and deepening a commitment to core values that sometimes got lost in pre-pandemic lifestyles. Now, with the pulse of spring rising up within and around us, we feel the irresistible energy of change in our bones, our blood, mirror- ing the trees and rivers and warming earth. Already immersed in the FKDOOHQJHVRI FKDQJH LW¶V WLPH WRKDUQHVV'\ODQ7KRPDV¶ ³IRUFH WKDW WKURXJK WKH JUHHQ IXVH GULYHV WKHÀRZHU´ DV¿HUFH DV LW LV MR\IXO DV startling as it is nurturing. :HDUHGULYHQWRJURZLQWKHVDPHZD\DVSODQWVHTXDOO\LQÀXHQFHG by circumstance. But because we are human (and stubborn) it is up to XVZKHWKHUZHZLOODQVZHUDZDNHQDQGEORRP5HQHZDOFRPHVZLWK releasing expectations; release asks us to embrace the new. Embracing the new means actively co-creating the unique and surprising experi- ences we’ll face in the process. The Coming of Spring Means Releasing Loss +RZZHZDVWHRXUD̈LFWLRQV>7@KH\¶UHUHDOO\RXUZLQWHULQJIR - OLDJHRXUGDUNJUHHQVRIPHDQLQJRQHRIWKHVHDVRQVRIWKHFODQGHV - WLQH\HDU² QRWRQO\DVHDVRQ² WKH\¶UHVLWHVHWWOHPHQWVKHOWHU VRLODERGH ²5DLQHU0DULD5LONH
Photo: Carol Burbank, Storyweaving
$̈LFWLRQWDNHVXVGHHSLQWRRXUVHOYHV/RVVVWULSVDZD\RXUXQFRQ - scious habits and comforts so we can acknowledge the stories that JXLGHRXU OLYHV VWDUNDV WKH WUXQNVRIZLQWHU WUHHV5LONHQDPHV WKLV season as a time of waiting, a settling that shelters seeds. It’s also a moment of choice — which story seeds do we want to take into the IXWXUHDQGZKLFKGRZHUHFRJQL]HDVZHHGV" To think of these times of assessment as a kind of home means trusting that renewal can be as inevitable as change. This is more than a leap of faith; it’s a creative practice, alchemical in its power. The per- YDVLYHP\WKWKDWDUWLVWVDQGZULWHUVQHHGWRVX̆HULQRUGHUWREHJUHDW is a shadow myth of this alchemy. Healthy artists and writers simply
58—PATHWAYS—Spring 22
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