I've been seeing a lot of butterflies lately. In animal symbolism, the butterfly is the symbol of transformation (http://www.whats-your-sign.com/butterfly-animal-symbolism.html). I love butterflies. I've been called a social butterfly. I accept any comparison to a butterfly I can get. They're so beautiful and they make my heart leap in my chest when they cross my path.
The butterfly is the perfect symbol for transformation. I don't think that there is another creature that goes through the metamorphosis that a butterfly does. Unlike most animals that just become a larger version of their younger selves, a butterfly is totally unrecognizable from its original form.
The definition for metamorphosis is: any complete change in appearance, character, circumstances. The definition for transformation is: change in form, appearance, nature, or character. They are the words that I have been using about myself and that people have been using about me for the last few months. They are two of the most descriptive words for the experience that I have been having. And at another time in my life, this much change would have been extraordinarily scary. Now, it's truly exciting.
This last year has been one of major transitions and transformations. Some have been so amazing that I'm still reeling from them. Some were my greatest fears realized and yet, I not only survived them but thrived because I was forced to face them. The thing that has been the most incredible is how this has effected me.
My physical appearance has changed. I have relaxed a lot of the rules I used to have about my image and I've never looked better. I lost close to 30 pounds just by giving myself permission to live in my joy. I have found myself less self-conscious than I can ever remember being previously. I am who I am, if you don't like it, oh well I'm not here to make you happy.
It wasn't until I accepted the changes in my life, released my need to control everything, accepted my gifts & truly allowed myself to just be me...that's when the joy could not longer be contained in my body and it began to change the way I looked. People began to take notice. Someone told me last night that I looked a lot like I did when we had first met more than six years ago...confident and bright. What's funny is...this is the first time my outside and my inside match. I have looked confident before but it was a total act. I didn't have confidence, I had bravado. I could put on a good show.
When I work with private clients, I tell them that the only way our time together will be beneficial is if they accept that their lives will be transformed at the end of the process. If they are not ready to accept that they will not be the same person after we're done, then they need to wait until they are. Otherwise I get the "yeah, but's"..."yeah but I've never done that before...yeah but I'm not that kind of person...yeah but why can't it just be like this"...you get the picture. If I'm getting the "yeah but's" it's a clear indication that they are wasting their money and our time, because they're not ready for change.
When we are going through transformation, we can approach it one of two ways. We can either open our arms wide, accepting the gifts that will come to us, or we can try to hold on desperately to the past, to the things that were. The former will allow your connection to joy more fully and easily. The latter will keep you stuck, because that refusal to accept the transformation is based on fear. And fear is the enemy of joy.
Change is inevitable. When you are open to that change is when true transformation can take place. When you accept that this is your life now. When you accept that new doors can't open until other ones are closed. When you stop living in fear and trying to control the outcome. Only then, will the metamorphosis be allowed to commence. When you allow yourself to go from caterpillar, with many legs, inching its way along, holding on tightly to the ground beneath...to butterfly, soaring above in all of its beauty and glory...that's when you will experience the joy of being you. Are you ready?
Until next time...
Joyfully yours,
Robyn
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