The Courage to Allow

I'm in the middle of some big transitions.

We dropped our youngest off at college last week.

I'm in the later stages of perimenopause, and the intense hormonal shifts and symptoms that accompany that are...interesting.

I'm turning 50 in two weeks, and I have some feelings about that.

And we're moving into fall—a season when the call to begin releasing the things that are no longer supportive feels loud and clear.

All of these transitions have brought me back to a few truths I've learned through my relationship with this medicine.

Life is full of seasons.

There are seasons for everything, and all of them require, in some way, the ability to accept change.

When we fight that change, we can create blockages in our physical and emotional bodies. Things stop moving. We hold on. We create stagnation.

And stagnation can lead to dis-ease.

So, in order to find my way back to ease, I'm reminding myself of the power of surrender and release.

The power of acceptance.

The power of now.

The framework of Chinese medicine is deeply rooted in the seasonal nature of life. Nothing stays exactly as it is. Yin becomes yang. Yang becomes yin. Expansion is followed by contraction. There are times to grow and times to release. Times to move outward and times to turn inward.

Our lives have seasons, too.

And when we learn to care for ourselves within the season we're actually in—not the one we wish we were still in or the one we're trying to hurry toward—we can move through these transitions with a little more ease.

I have to be honest: I'm not always great at it.

I still find myself fighting change sometimes.

I still want to hold on.

But knowing that I have a deeper understanding and a framework to support myself gives me the courage to allow.

To allow this season to be what it is.

To release what is ready to be released.

To be here, now.

And I know that's some really good medicine.