Life Cycles and Changes Are Driving Me Crazy

"Change is inevitable. Growth is optional." — John C. Maxwell

The universe is dynamic and always changing. Sometimes the change is infinitesimal and beyond our detection, but often we can see this change with our own eyes. We know what the changing seasons look like, we understand planetary motion, lunar phases, the high and low tide, weather systems, shifting winds, the flow of the river, erosion, our moods, our bodies and even the birth, aging and death of living things.

To say we want to have some control over the changes in life is like asking the earth to shower us with rain only every other Saturday. All of nature seems to subscribe to the same idea: life flows, time passes, and things change no matter how hard we may wish they stay the same.

Change in life, and in this universe, is completely natural; it's our resistance to this change and our clinging to the familiar that is unnatural. Since change is the only constant in life, we have to get used to the idea that letting go of our fear of the unknown allows us the opportunity to create space and the potential to birth something new and potentially greater in our lives. We couldn't say this more poetically than the television show Grey's Anatomy did in a September 23, 2010 episode:

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Every cell in the human body regenerates on average every seven years. Like snakes, in our own way we shed our skin. Biologically, we are brand new people. We may look the same — we probably do; the change isn't visible at least in most of us — but we are all changed completely forever.


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When we say things like people don't change, it drives scientists crazy because change is literally the only constant in all of science. Energy, matter, it's always changing, morphing, merging, growing, dying. It's the way people try not to change that's unnatural. The way we cling to what things were instead of letting them be what they are. The way we cling to old memories instead of forming new ones. The way we insist on believing despite every scientific indication, that anything in this life is permanent. Change is constant. How we experience change, that's up to us. It can feel like death, or it can feel like a second chance at life. If we open our fingers, loosen our grips, go with it, it can feel like pure adrenaline. Like at any moment we can have another chance at life. Like at any moment we can be born all over again.

Change is Inevitable: Understanding the Cycles of Life

Cycles, Patterns, and Change: Life Changes Are Driving Me CrazyEveryday, universal patterns can be used as important tools in understanding the cycles of life. First, if there are indeed laws of nature that show how the world is constantly changing and flowing, there is little we can do to change it. The world will keep on humming and flowing and moving the way it is meant to regardless of what we think or do. Our microcosmic selves are a part of that macrocosmic flow. It's exactly as the quote at the beginning of this chapter states, "Change is inevitable," and we are just a part of the total flow of the universe.

Along with humming and flowing and doing what it needs to do, the universe did play one small trick on us humans. It gave us free will. But in the process, we often fall into the trap of assuming we can control most of what happens to us simply by changing our actions or the choices we make. While we can certainly influence the outcome of our personal future by the choices we make, we cannot change it completely. For example, you have the free will to jump out of an airplane without a parachute, but the laws of the universe dictate that death will likely be the result. Now if you get yourself a parachute and some sky diving lessons, you have contributed whatever amount you can to the equation and the ratios have changed. The result might be a thrilling and safe jump.

Awareness: A Powerful Mind-Cleansing Tool

Albert Einstein once said the definition of insanity was doing the same things over and over again and somehow expecting the result will be different. Sometimes, we just can't see the insanity of our ways. This is where it becomes important to have awareness.

Awareness becomes an incredibly powerful mind-cleansing tool because we are able to see the insanity of patterns, habits, reactions, and predispositions. We are honest with ourselves and see if our own actions resulted in a reaction that is unwanted. Similarly, we can look at difficult situations and our reaction to them to see how our own habits and patterns begin to form. This kind of self-study gives us a clue as to how we might react and respond in all difficult situations that come our way in life, not just the current one.

It's like standing on top of a mountain and having a view of the whole village rather than standing on the street and trying to stand on our tip-toes to see what restaurant is a block away.

©2010 by Tamara Quinn, Elisabeth Heller.
Reprinted with permission of the publisher, Findhorn Press.
www.findhornpress.com. All Rights Reserved.

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The Infertility Cleanse: Detox, Diet and Dharma for Fertility by Tami Quinn, Beth Heller.The Infertility Cleanse: Detox, Diet and Dharma for Fertility
by Tami Quinn, Beth Heller.

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About the Authors

Tamara Quinn, co-author of -- The Infertility Cleanse: Detox, Diet and Dharma for FertilityBeth Heller, co-author of -- The Infertility Cleanse: Detox, Diet and Dharma for FertilityTamara Quinn and Elisabeth Heller, M.S. are registered yoga instructors. They are the cofounders and codirectors of Pulling Down the Moon, Inc., Integrative Care for Fertility (ICF™), a revolutionary holistic fertility center that has changed the standard of care for women experiencing infertility. They are also the coauthors of Fully Fertile.