Are you sprouting?
Posted by: tammycoia on: April 26, 2011
I have been writing and thinking about growth lately. Growth comes in many shapes and sizes, as children there were times where you may have had a “growth spurt.” Have you had one of those lately? It seems like as adults when we have growth opportunities it may come in the form of pain. Wouldn’t it be great if all of our growth opportunities came in times of light, love, blue skies and green lights, where it felt good and we could see where we are going? Unfortunately that is not the way it works. I can remember a student of mine telling me once that the hardest part of growth and change is when one door closes and you are standing alone in the hallway waiting for the other door to open. Reality is, we are destined to grow, one way or another. Our only choice is, will it be consciously or unconsciously? I believe there can be great personal growth for us as we learn to consciously push out into the darkness as well as the light. Think back to times in your life when you have grown from a circumstance in your life. Most of our most meaningful personal growth experiences can be stimulated when life appears the darkest and most uncertain. Have you ever put a bag of potatoes in your cupboard where they can sit and just be in the dark. What happens? They will still continue to “sprout” even in the darkness. The darkness doesn’t seem to stifle the growth of a potato.
Is it time for you to “sprout” some new growth? If the answer is “yes,” don’t wait until “growing conditions” are perfect because they seldom are. Don’t turn away from your dark or uncertain times; lean into them and invite the wisdom of the universe to reveal the meaning and purpose of the moment. Let the experience become the teacher. Push out into life and grow, regardless of the conditions, because that’s why you are here-to evolve and grow into the spectacular being you are!
Today in your journal writing consider the ways life has been your teacher. Do you find your times of growth to be more conscious or unconscious? If you haven’t “sprouted” lately, in what area would you like to grow?
4 Responses to "Are you sprouting?"
April 26, 2011 at 8:53 pm
I think that is my new nickname for you Mel…”Sprout”…yes, you are indeed growing! Thank you for sharing your words of wisdom with all of us! So glad to have you as a part of my tribe and my sister on this journey!
April 27, 2011 at 6:39 pm
As you know, “Growth” is the name of the piece I chose for my spotlight talk at the Palm Springs Art Museum. I feel that I have grown tremendously in the past year and a half that I’ve lived here in the desert. I attribute this growth to my writing classes with you, “The Group,” and my training at the museum. I have always loved growing and learning and always thought of that as “The teacher in me.” I never thought of the term, “sprouting,” but it’s a good one… one I plan to do for the rest of my life!
April 27, 2011 at 8:19 pm
Pia, that is right! I forgot that was the title! You did such a fantastic job on your “spotlight” piece. I am so proud to call my my friend and fellow sister. Yes, you have indeed been sprouting and even flowering! Thank you for being such an important part of my life and my “tribe!”
April 26, 2011 at 8:48 pm
Aaaaah, I love and hate growth. The truth is I crave it now but it doesn’t always feel so good in the process. What I know about sprouting is the more you do it the more you’ll want to. Everything in nature changes. Change is natural. We, creatures of habit, resist change because we find ourselves being comfortable with the known even if it is less than ideal. Pain comes when the natural evolution of the being is stalled. Pain can be are greatest teacher–if we learn to pay attention. One of the things I remember the most from my NLP training was this saying . . . “to the extent you don’t pay attention, you pay with pain”. So now at the first sign of something off, my back, my knees, vertigo . . . =) I don’t head for the meds I head for my head. It can be the baddest neighborhood to play in–that mind of ours, so I search and sure enough always find where I’m resisting the natural progression of life, when I’m hanging out in the playground of the past. Learning to let go of old ideas, old beliefs, old behaviors may be less than easy but it is SO WORTH IT!!
I’m sprouting as we speak . . . xo