Out With the Old ...

It seems that a lot of my thoughts are pretty repetitive these days, so I was pretty quiet on the weekend.

How much can one write about letting go of cleaning; being frustrated and overwhelmed by adopting procrastination as a new habit; and the growing out phases of my Great Dance Adventure beautification processes?

My thoughts are running in a circuit. A continuous loop of ineffectiveness, it seems. I need to break out of this cycle.

So ... I shall pull out another little morsel from "The Passion Test" - by Janet Bray Attwood & Chris Attwood:

This particular little excerpt was preceded by a little story about how Janet (the author) accidentally set fire to a room of the house in which they were guests (while they were on a trip to India). The family's (who was their host) only concern was for the well being of their guests. As far as the fire? "It was a blessing!" was their response.

Their belief is that "... for the new to be created, the old must be destroyed. Because life is constantly evolving, hanging on to the old may prevent the new from coming in ..."

I immediately related to this statement.

When I moved my young family here 22+ years ago, we brought next to nothing from our 'old life' with us. While that remained (remains?) a bone of contention with my (then) nine year old son, for me it represented a new slate. It allowed the new to enter our lives.

I have no memories of harboring any great resentment over the fact that we walked away from (almost) everything from our previous world. It was a fact of our new life. Our new beginning ... which had very few physical ties to our old life.

Everything was brand new. A new city, new job, new school, new friends ... a brand new life. It was just what I needed to break out of a cycle that had enveloped me for ten years.

"It was a blessing!"

It's hard to belief that our greatest sorrows can be a catalyst to times of growth and renewal. As I was in the thick of enduring that first year of transition, I doubt that I appreciated the hidden blessings. But in looking back, I know that it was for the best.

I'm grateful for the need to walk away from the past and everything in it. It made room for the new life we created for ourselves. There wasn't room for the old.

I believe that I am in need of getting rid of the old to make room for the new once again. It is time ...