About two weeks ago a lovely synchronicity began to take form....unbeknownst to me.....
I attended a 3-day company convention where at one point i was able to take a lovely workshop called "Managing Change". although there were many different workshops to chose from, this one in particular sparked my interest. I figured that with all the change that i have endured in the past year and all the change that was coming, i might as well figure out how to manage it...change that is.
The workshop was based around ideas by an author named William Bridges. What i found interesting was the notion of different stages of transition including....The Neutral Zone. This Neutral Zone caught my eye immediately! A place of chaos, confusion, unknowing of what is coming.....a place of creativity. A place where you have not yet let go of who you were and yet a place where you are not yet who you are to become.....a place of possibility. Finally! Words that fit the very place that i have been for so many months now.....a place where i haven't quite felt like myself....a place where i have felt at a stalemate.....a place where i realize that this change or that change was not THE answer.....a place where what was comfortable is no longer and what is no longer is not comfortable.
I reminded myself in this workshop to remember this author! remember this moment of inspiration! remember to research it more! Unfortunately my pregnancy brain got the best of my intentions and i completely forgot that i even took the workshop. So living my life i went...
That next weekend i met up with a friend from work....we decided to visit a bookstore we had never visited. She was looking for a book in particular and mentioned the name...and it was in one ear out the other for me. but she found her book and off we went to chat over coffee. A few hours later and some good girl chat done, we went on our way....
The next day at work this same friend comes up to me and says, "This book that I bought yesterday would be perfect for you! It talks about this "Neutral Zone"...." And then it came flooding back to me...THE WORKSHOP!
I asked her... "Who is the author? William Bridges?". She said "Yes!". And then i asked her (thinking i knew the answer), "Did you take that Managing Change workshop??". She said "NO!?"
I couldnt believe it! Out of all the books in the world!
It's called "The Way of Transition: Embracing Life's Most Difficult Moments."
So of course i went and bought the book as i figured the universe was nudging at me to do so. This book has been so powerful for me that words cannot express the importance of me finding this book now at this time in my life. Very few times have i encountered a book that was almost just short of a lifesaver.
I want to write more about the content of this book...the ideas that have impacted me.
but for now, i will leave you with a quote ....the first two paragraphs of chapter one and leave you pondering for yourself if perhaps you are in need of finding your way through transition.....
"It's a paradox: To achieve continuity, we have to be willing to change. Change is, in fact, the only way to protect whatever exists, for without continuous readjustment the present cannot continue.....The refusal to change will not garauntee that whatever we care about stays the same. It only assures that whatever we care about has been deprived of the very thing it needs in order to survive. A marriage, a career, a dream for the future, even a picture of the past: Each of these things is being primed for destruction if it does not change over time.
Here is another paradox: The very things we now wish we could hold onto and keep safe from change were themselves originally produced by changes. And many of those changes, in their day, looked just as daunting as any in the present do. No matter how solid and comfortable and necessary the status quo feels today, it was once new, untried and uncomfortable. Change is not only the path ahead, but it is also the path behind us, the one which we traveled along to whereever we are now trying to stay." ~William Bridges "The Way of Transition"
1 comment:
Wow. It's great to see you write so much and with great understanding. I will definetly have to check out this book--sounds like it might resonate for me as well.
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