The Pond of Life

I was chatting with a friend of mine, Chriss Lemmon PhD, about change. Changing old tendencies, coping with random upsetting changes in life, stuff like that. He had a great insight that random events in life, even seemingly unpleasant ones, can shock us into a new way of being. Random events can make us more aware of a personality pattern we'd like to change. Sometimes you notice an old, unhelpful habit pattern in your body that feels like it's 'stuck'. You mistakenly think "that's me, that's a fixed part of who I am." In integral psychology and the human potential movement, habit patterns and feelings are just energy or consciousness that you can let pass through your body. You can allow one to leave and allow another, more helpful, one to come in. Think of yourself as a frog on a lily pad in the pond of life. You can move from one lily pad to another. Which lily pad are you sitting on, afraid to jump to the next one? Maybe you feel a bit of an upset vibe in the pit of your stomach when you go to a party or have a disagreement. Imagine you can let that pattern pass through you, it is just temporary and you can try another one on. Notice what other feelings are available to you. Jump to the next lily pad for fun and see how that feels to move.