Self Growth Comes in Cycles

If you’ve explored much of my stuff, you know, I’m always looking at nature for the lessons it can teach us.   
 
Have you ever watched one of those time lapse videos of a flower growing and blooming?  You see the flower begin growing and proceed through its life span.  You see the flower burst forth in enthusiastic growth and then pause where it seems to rest.  Then suddenly, another burst of growth occurs.  It’s not a continuous steady growth.  It bursts and rests and might even appear to retreat at times. 

    I think it’s so useful to think of our own growth like this.  It happens in fits and spurts, in seemingly unrelated cycles.  The truth is growth cannot sustain itself in a straight predictable trajectory.  We have to allow it to run its own course.  No matter how we struggle, we have to go through the transitions, the resting places, the retreats, the bursts of unbelievable growth.

        And boy, some of this results in a lot of growing pains.

  When we’re in those times of growth or “bursting forward”, it can be a bit scary.  We don’t know where we’re going, but somehow, we can’t stop it.  It can also be frustrating when we reach a place of rest.  We may feel comfortable with that movement or lack of movement.  Maybe we desire to keep it in motion.  Sometimes, we look at motion as “good” and rest as “bad”.  But know that nature always seeks balance and our effort has to be balanced by rest, or we become unhealthy. 

    It becomes important in our practice of self compassion to acknowledge and appreciate times of pause. 

    How does this relate to your relationship?  How do you handle these natural cycles?  Do you get frustrated with yourself when you feel stagnant?  Do you get scared and want to stop change when it’s occurring so quickly?   Doesn’t everything that affects you also affect your partner? 

      Something more to consider:  Your partner is having the same sort of growth cycles.  Do you get frustrated with your partner when they’re low energy?  When they don’t move, grow or act as fast as you’d like them to?  Or when they don’t set the same priorities as you?

     In the compassion department, you have to respect your own cycles and understand that your partner is experiencing their own resistance, growth and rest cycles.

    Practice time:  Where have you not been honoring the growth cycle for yourself or for your partner?  Can you recognize and summon patience for yourself and your partner?  Can you become curious instead of judgmental about where you both are in growth cycles?

Keep on Growin’,
Allison

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