Changing direction

"Adjusting to a new path and a new direction will require new qualities and strengths, and these qualities are always exactly what we need to acquire in order to accomplish the great things ahead in our life"

- Rhonda Byrne, author of 'The Secret'

Recently I have found myself in a new place, crossing unchartered waters. Many changes have occurred in the last few months, both in my career and in my life. Whilst I have embraced them wholeheartedly, a fear of the unknown has haunted me, and at times overwhelmed me.

The following passage feels incredibly empowering, and helps me to know that I am in exactly the right place, and the decisions I am  making are taking me to where I want to be. I love the idea that my older self is somehow pulling or willing me along to join her. It is so liberating. Suddenly there are no mistakes, but choices that have allowed me my life experiences. Understanding where I am and accepting these choices helps me to stay calm and focussed.

"My thoughts turn to something I read once, something the Zen Buddhists believe. They say that an oak tree is brought into creation by two forces at the same time. Obviously, there is the acorn from which it all begins, the seed which holds all the promise and potential, which grows into the tree. Everybody can see that. But only a few can recognize that there is another force operating here as well - the future tree itself, which wants so badly to exist that it pulls the acorn into being, drawing the seedling forth with longing out of the void, guiding the evolution from nothingness to maturity. In this respect, say the Zens, it is the oak tree that creates the very acorn from which it was born.

I think about the woman I have become lately, about the life that I am now living, and about how much I always wanted to be this person and live this life, liberated from the farce of pretending to be anyone other than myself. I think of everything I endured before getting here and wonder if it was me- I mean, this happy and balanced me, who is now dozing on the deck of the small Indonesian fishing boat-who pulled the other, younger, more confused and more struggling me forward during all those hard years. The younger me was the acorn full of potential, but it was the older me, the already-existent oak, who was saying the whole time-'Yes-grow! Change! Evolve!Come and meet me here, where I already exist in wholeness and maturity! I need you to grow into me!' 

-"Eat Pray Love", Elizabeth Gilbert