Transitions

My husband made an interesting observation while we were walking along a dirt road flanked by rainbow colored maple trees earlier this fall. He noted that unlike flowers, which have adapted their forms and colors to fit the function of reproduction, the particolored leaves decorating the trees each autumn serve no functional purpose at all. The shades of green that we normally see are the result of food production, but in the fall when the trees begin their transition into dormancy and so stop producing food, a tapestry of gold, scarlet, terracotta and plum suddenly begins to emerge. Isn’t it miraculous? What a gift to the human soul that the trees set the world alight with their beauty just as the long dark of winter is settling in.

Such times of transition are ripe with anticipation. The resulting energy fills with air around us and charges us with emotions. Sometimes we welcome these feelings – the first rainy fall day that generates the desire to curl up on the couch under a blanket with a warm mug of cider in hand. Our first collective glimpse of the bride as she steps into view and begins her slow walk down the aisle. The joyous moment of reunion with an old friend after too many years gone by. These are the moments that remind us how sweet life can be.

But transitions can set off emotions that are not always so welcome. There are times when the crush of the unknown weighs heavily on our worried hearts. The night the rain won’t stop – it just keeps falling and falling, and so the water keeps rising. Waiting for the test results, as the known world hangs in the balance. The point at which the decision is made, whether by choice or by force, and tentative steps are taken down an unfamiliar path. These are the moments that remind us how fragile life can be.

But just as the coziness of that first chill fall day fills the soul with the sensation of pleasure, so too does that first summer-like spring day, when we cast off our layers and drink in the sunshine. We know warmth, because we know cold. The beauty of love and reunion are more palpable because we know loss. Tradition comforts all the more because we know the uncertainty of change. This oppositeness provides the frame of reference for all we know in the world.

What we sometimes lose sight of is that those times of transition we resist out of fear, are also the times that unite us together. We tend to each other’s needs in times of sorrow, just as we celebrate our joys – with a heart wide open to the emotional spectrum of what it means to be human. Compassion is cultivated most readily when we support others during times of difficult transition. At these times, we are all reminded of who we hold most dear, and what really matters most. We come to know the essential aspects of our life that do not change, even as chaos is swirling all around. Perhaps it is the tenuousness that makes this one life so precious.

There are times when the only thing we can do is love. All the words have been said, there are no new ideas to impart and the answers are suspended in time. Somewhere out beyond the fear and worry lies the reason behind our anguish – we love. In this life we will all know pain and suffering, but we will also know love, because at the heart of it all this is what we are. Isn’t it miraculous? That in such fragile moments our true nature can be revealed. Even in the darkest times it can set the world alight with its beauty.