10 Sep Transformation: Learning the Language of Becoming Your Self
Transformation is one of those words that sounds good but definitely has its downsides.
We all like the idea of being transformed but getting there can knock all the stuffing out of us. I know-having been through many iterations of transformation.
It helps me as a walk that journey, again and again, with my clients and friends. It helps me remember when I enter the cycle once again whether with myself or with those I work with.
Such as been the case in the last year. It seems to be a period of transformation, of change both painful and exhilarating for some.
It’s had me reflect on how I made it through times of change, when I would feel the rough sandpaper of life rubbing away at rough edges of who I thought I was. Those times I could feel the invitation to change come in multiple forms, things clients would say, opportunities that came and those that didn’t come, books I resonanted with, phrases that came to mind, feedback people would give me.
Some of these subtle cues, a few rather intense, would seem to shoehorn me into a stretch of life that I didn’t always understand till the meaning opened up, often much later.
Michelangelo’s David
It reminds me of the story I would often tell leading the Intensive Inner Quest at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health. I had grown up in Europe and often spent time in Florence.
The Florentines tell a story of how Michelangelo created the David.
Michelangelo liked to poke around the different masonry yards looking for pieces of marble to work with. During one of his forays he came across this huge piece of Carerra marble beautiful yet with a large flaw.
Even with this flaw Michelangelo felt his pulses ignite, this was a piece worthy of something great. He didn’t know what it was but brought the chunk of marble to his workroom and studied it for days, weeks. There was omething there. What was it that was calling so strongly to him?
Michelangelo looked and studied the marble until this inner form revealed itself to him. Michelangelo could see how he could carve through and around this flaw in the marble to reveal the David hidden within. With that he worked feverishly, chiseling, sanding, studying, listening until what we see today was exposed.
Transformation
I loved this story and listened to it a lot growing up wandering around Florence, staring at the David and all the other masterpieces. It became the metaphor for transformation. I often wondered what it was like to be hidden so deeply within raw material, unseen.
Transformation is about being seen despite all the flaws and occlusions, being seen for the natural and extraordinary beauty that’s there inside all of us, waiting to be uncovered.
Healing difficult histories we all hope and long for that healing to come from the outside. We all wish for a Michelangelo who discovers us in a big pile of cast-aways and calls forth the beauty laying inside.
The Not-So-Pretty Side of Transformation
The trouble is, none of us think of what David’s experience was like . We don’t consider what it’s like to be chiseled away at or how painful the blunt instruments are that are carving away chunks of what we aren’t so that who we are can come through.
What occurred to me so many years ago trundling around Florence is still fresh in my heart and mind as I listen to people being carved by life. Life is the great master of transformation calling us to ourselves. Yet how often are we willing to listen to the small subtle cues before they turn into huge raging tsunamis changing our life.
We are always being moved toward ourselves. We are all being invited to become more ourselves, which might not look like someone else, it might not be the easy path someone else is taking. Our path is unique completely dedicated to uncovering our goodness, creativity, joyfulness, happiness and complete satisfaction.
We get there by listening, by letting the storms of life rattle our windows and uproot what no longer serves us. We get there by living deeply in our bodies, in our cells, in our hearts.
Learning the language of becoming ourselves is the invitation we are all given.
Printed in the Safely Embodied ezine September 6, 2011