In Times Of Change…

I was at the hair salon yesterday, having the epic life talks that always seem to happen when I’m sitting in that chair. I go to the coolest hair salon in Manhattan, in my opinion – Uliana in the East Village, on 9th between 1st and 2nd – it’s in Jimi Hendrix’s old apartment. Uliana has seen me through a lot of years of different changes, and I always look forward to giving her the latest. As a hairdresser, she hears a lot about what people are going through. Everyone vents in that chair.

Uliana said – “It’s a funny time in life right now, in the world. All of my clients are going through a lot of big changes, it seems a lot of people are feeling ungrounded, unstable. Things don’t feel secure. I’m seeing that across the board.”

It got me thinking — we’re always going through changes. Sometimes it feels like everyone’s going through something. Sometimes we feel stable, sometimes we feel totally lost. Sometimes there’s a lot of freedom in our lives, sometimes it feels like we’re bound in a lot of ways. But it’s those “in-between” phases that seem to be the most uncomfortable – when we don’t feel totally stable but we’re not sure what’s next. Those are the times when we have a choice — we can desperately cling onto something that resembles security even if it doesn’t make us happy, or we can accept and enjoy the ride — every crazy up and down — feeling our way through it the whole way — knowing that our uncomfortability is the sweet spot where we can experience radical growth.

I opened up my Journey To The Heart book this morning to read the passage for October 19th.  It was the perfect passage for this concept, so I had to share it here with you guys:

In times of change:

“We may not know where we’re going. It may not feel like our feet are on solid ground. They aren’t. We’re crossing a bridge to another part of our lives. Sometimes we may find ourselves at this bridge unwittingly, not certain how we got there, not certain we want to cross. Other times, we may have sought, prayed for, longed for this time of change.

Drive across the bridge. You don’t have to understand it all right now. Information and understanding will come later. You’ll get to the other side. For now, trust and experience what you’re going through. Know that this time of change is sacred.”  -Melody Beattie

Sometimes crossing a bridge is scary if all you’re doing is looking down. But if you just keep going, putting one foot in front of the other, crossing over the bridge, you just might enjoy the journey and find something amazing. As they say…”don’t quit before the miracle.”

If you are digging this whole concept, you should listen to one of my favorite Alanis Morissette songs — Incomplete. I was running on the track at McCarren Park when I first heard it…and I probably cried a little.

“I have been running, so sweaty my whole life, urgent for a finish line….and I have been missing the rapture this whole time of being forever incomplete.”

“Ever unfolding, ever expanding, ever adventurous and torturous…but never done.”

-Alanis

rapture:

I mean, whoa. This is good. So if you feel like you’re on the bridge right now, join the party, and courageously keep going. Don’t be in such an anxious hurry to get to the other side. There are amazing things to be experienced on the bridge. And some very cool people who are also bridging it along with you. Take it one day at a time.

I asked Uliana how she deals with these times of change. She said, “I wake up every day and I show up for my life.”