Burning it down to build it back up

“My figurative house burnt down and now I can see the moon rising”

-Pico Iyer

Yeah….that sucks doesn’t it?!

I mean really, it does. When you are in the middle of it it feels nearly unbearable but then something really amazing happens, if as my friend told me, you “allow” it. You start to build it back up. You sift out of the fire the good parts, you examine the broken and burnt pieces for signs of life or clues or lessons as to how you can rebuild better, how you can rebuild stronger and how you can rebuild from the deepest parts of who you truly are.

Many of us spend our lives being molded into an “idea” of someone else’s best versions of us. Many of us go along with it because, well, we just don’t know any other way.

BUT every now and then someone gets a lucky break. That illusion goes up in flames because of something or someone that all we are left with is what feels like an irreparable mess. A mess that can be painful to sift through, it’s as if you’re sifting through shards of glass sometimes. Almost impossible to face because eventually if you face it enough times you’ll realize that no matter what happened you have to come to grips with what your responsibility is in that mess. You might as well be trying to eat those shards of glass you are sifting through; might be less painful.

But after you are through sifting and eating you start to see something other that pain and sadness. You see just how strong you can be. You see the kind of person you want to become. You see that you have been blessed with a clean slate; a chance to build the life YOU want. You start to see your responsibility in how you move forward and if you are up for the task you start to learn how to navigate through old patterns and uncomfortable situations. You become grateful for the lessons and maybe, just maybe even grateful to the people who brought those lessons to your table. Ugh, I gotta admit, sometimes that particular gratitude is the hardest. I have found myself kicking and screaming on the way to gratitude but once I get there I can feel the peace that it brings and it is a nice change of pace.

When you start to see yourself building the life you want you start to see the moon rising. Just like the moon waxes and wanes so will your steadfastness in building what you want. You’ll hit obstacles, your have doubts, you will even have moments where you fall back into old habits and THAT IS OK because as long as you continue to move forward you will gain wisdom, strength and grace from each setback and the life you build will be solidly YOU and authentically yours.

And goodness what a life it can be!! So dream big! Dream with your heart and soul! Dream past your fears! Don’t stop because others tell you it’s risky. Don’t stop because you don’t know what is on the other side of door number 2. You’ve not made it this far to sit in old comforts. Open that door….open as many doors as you can. Some will not open and some will close real quick but you will never be able to say that you didn’t take a peak.

I hope you get the chance to live life to the fullest! I hope you get a chance to set the terms for how you experience this short time gifted to you.

Love and Light