Ask yourself, “Who are you?” My answer would be: “I’m Kate. I am a yoga instructor and studio owner. I have brown hair and brown eyes.” But maybe in twenty years my hair turns silver and I no longer own the yoga studio. Does that mean I’m not Kate? Which parts of me do not change?
We may call that unchanging part of us by different names. I often refer to it as “the true self”. Others may call it the soul, the witness, or the holy spirit. I believe that our yoga and meditation practice give us the opportunity to experience and be aware of our true selves. Tapping into my own inner stillness and becoming an observer has always helped me in times of transition.
So, besides uncertainty, why do we avoid change? Because it’s hard! It requires work. We have to learn new things, be vulnerable, and sometimes take risks. This is especially true for those of us who are aging. (That’s a trick. That’s all of us.) Opening ourselves to the unknown can be a scary thing. Additionally, change often takes patience.
One of my favorite things to see in movies are montages. A montage is a part of the movie, typically set to music, that shows snippets of time during a transition for one of the characters. Rocky training to box in Siberia in Rocky IV, Daniel winning matches in a karate tournament in The Karate Kid, the baptism scene in the first Godfather movie. These are some of my favorites.
I think the reason I like movie montages so much is because they are a fantasy. What better way to get through change than to do it in less than 3 minutes, set to a great song? What would be the soundtrack to your current transition? How do you tap into the unchanging part of yourself?
With gratitude,
Kate