Though you may wish to rage, rage against the world for all the injustices done you, for all the pain and suffering you have endured, it is only in going within the self that all will be set right. Raging outerly does not quell the fire of rage within but is only a momentary release. It is only in containment, in burning the rage, the feelings of injustice and the pain within the container of self that full release and transformation will occur. Profound and lasting change must take place within the container of self. The outer world is just a mirror. Go within.
Accept yourself as you are, but also know that everything has the potential to change, even you, inside and out. Human beings are not fixed objects. Though you may feel stuck where you are now it does not mean that you will not or cannot change, for indeed you will. Change is a natural phenomenon. Adopt change inside and out as your mantra: “I am willing to change inside and out. I accept myself as a changing being. I am changing.” Manifest a changing you to guide you forward into new life. Choose change and it will choose you!
Profound experiences may catapult one to drastic change by force, but even mundane experiences offer opportunities for change. Every day offers a new opportunity to manifest a dream. A dream is nothing more than potential opportunity stirring inside you, hoping you’ll notice it, wake up, choose it, and dream it forward into life. It’s a great day to dream it forward. Dream on, with intent!
I share a passage I was reading this morning from an old favorite of mine, Shunryu Suzuki’s Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind. He reminds us “that everything changes is the basic truth for each existence. No one can deny this truth, and all the teaching of Buddhism is condensed within it. This is the teaching for all of us.”
He goes on to say, “Without accepting the fact that everything changes, we cannot find perfect composure. But unfortunately, although it is true, it is difficult for us to accept it. Because we cannot accept the truth of transiency, we suffer. So the cause of suffering is our non-acceptance of this truth.”
Those of us who have difficulty accepting our own truths may also find difficulty in accepting the transiency of life. Often we want things to stay the same so we don’t have to feel or re-experience what once caused so much distress, that which fragmented us and sent us into depression, dissociative habits, and any number of behaviors that we deemed necessary for our survival.
The truth is that life is all about change. Life would not exist without constant change. We know this to be truth in our own lives. If we don’t change nothing happens, we stay the same, and yes, we suffer. We aren’t able to more fully live and embrace life if we are afraid of making a move to change something in our lives. In the end we may even find pleasure in our pain and in our refusal to change; we elect suffering over change.
Recapitulation is all about daring the self to accept the changing aspects of life. It means we are saying that we are ready to face what holds us back so we can finally live in this world. Otherwise we remain entrenched in a world that is not real, a world where perhaps only fear and loathing exist, where change is given the boot, and we miss out on the true reality of this world. I spent most of my life in that other world. It’s what my books are all about, the rediscovery of my traumatic beginnings but also the discovery of just how entrenched I had become in the world I had created for myself in order to feel safe.
If we can dare ourselves to investigate just what it is that has us in its grip we slowly begin to find ourselves evermore ready to accept the changing aspects of life. And it’s then that we realize change is life, and that in daring to change ourselves, through the deep inner work of recapitulation, we offer ourselves footholds in new life, in a changing world. As we do deep work on ourselves we begin to trust and enjoy that changing world in previously unimaginable ways.
As we accept that life is change we begin to flow with all the changes that come our way, bidden and unbidden, knowing that this is how life is, and that this time will soon change too. Every time we accept that life is change we let ourselves experience more of living and eventually we are flowing right along, no longer afraid of change, no longer suffering in the way we once did.
Part of accepting that life is change and change is life is accepting that which we run from, that which we hide from, that which scares us the most. It entails turning and facing and finally accepting what once happened to us without judgment, without self-hatred, without fear but with compassion for our frightened self, with kindness for our traumatized self, with love for our noble and strong self.
We remember that those bad times in the past eventually changed too and that new things happened to us, so we see that we have already learned the lessons of change, but to learn those lessons in full awareness is what the process of recapitulation entails. To consciously elect change and allow ourselves the benefit of life in a new way is to readily accept what life offers us to help us grow and evolve.
Then we understand what Suzuki means when he says, “When we realize the everlasting truth of ‘everything changes’ and find our composure in it, we find ourselves in Nirvana.”
The road to Nirvana—to composure and to acceptance of all that is as it changes, without attachment—is one well worth traveling. If I can do it, so can you!
-A blog by J. E. Ketchel, Author of The Recapitulation Diaries
You can let things happen to you by chance or you can gather some positive energy and help things along with intent. Intent works like a magic potion; a spell of words and the power of your own heart-centered love make for a magical combination. In your own body, mind, and spirit you have all the power you need to change anything you want. Activate the power of intent! It’s never too late!
