What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from ~ TS Eliot
We are naturally programmed not to like change. We prefer the comfort of life as we know it. Despite challenges which inevitably appear, our default setting is to maintain the status quo.
We will cling on to our normal lives for as long as we can.
But change is inevitable. If we are to grow, our lives are underpinned by change. It catapults us to the next phase of our life or, in the case of an entire planet, to the next cycle of our evolution.
We saw an End in early 2020 when lockdown 1.0 came into effect, and started a global journey through the Essence Map.
Endings are typically connected with loss of some sort. The loss of a job, the loss of a loved one, a relationship or, a way of life.
Endings can be shocking. Depending on the circumstances, they can shake us to our core. They can impact our physical body as well as our mental state.
But endings catapult us to a new place, somewhere we're meant to be for our personal growth, and set off a chain of events that lead us forward.
Resistance is futile
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It's natural to resist change. But it is often a sign that we have outgrown a situation or a new chapter is waiting to begin.
I began to recognise my own endings in my twenties when I changed jobs several times, including once due to the death of my boss, another time, a failing business. Living alone in London, from pay cheque to pay cheque, I had to keep myself afloat.
The initial panic about finding a new job soon subsided once everything came together and a new opportunity presented itself. In my thirties, a rapid succession of jobs during the internet boom led me from one stepping stone to another and I began to see that there was a plan at play.
My relationships also followed the same path. A brief foray into marriage, aged thirty, sent me into an abyss. It would take me years to fathom the reason why it had fallen apart. Another very on/off relationship in my forties sent me through a spiral of repeated endings and beginnings.
It is by going down into the abyss that we recover the treasures of life. Where you stumble, there lies your treasure ~ Joseph Campbell
But, these experiences clarified the route map that I was navigating and, I saw, as I looked back on life, that everything always worked out, one way or another. Even when I couldn't see a way out, life brought me to a better place.
