8 Smart Ways to Think About Transition

Most of us understand that to be alive is to be in transition. From birth we are in constant motion going from one stage of life to the next. The trick today is to be smart about it; to be aware about what is happening in body, mind and spirit, and use it as a tool for setting new goals, and making creative choices about directions and attitudes.

1. Transitions are the map-quests of life. Accepting transitions, allowing them their place in our lives and using them wisely points us in the direction of personal fulfillment and peace. Denying transitions, fighting them, and/or ignoring them are guaranteed to make us stagnate, become stuck and empty, preferring the pain we know to taking the risk of new goals and new ways of being. Let your transitions point the way!
2. Transitions provide the energy for creative change. Sometimes transitions happen as the result of external circumstances beyond our control: the loss of someone or something precious to us, a natural disaster, a job transfer, or an acute illness. Many times, however, transition is the result of our own internal shifts that stir-up the status quo and shake-up our world-view with new perspectives and new desires. Either way, we are riding on the winds of change, and it is up to us how we will use it. We can either use the energy to move forward-out of the box-or not.
3. Transitions reveal the power of our attitudes. We may not have control over many of life's happenings, but we always have control over our attitude toward them. "I can't do that," is a frequent reaction to change. What is your attitude toward change and redirection? What would it take for you to turn it around and say, "I can do that!"?
4. Transitions enhance our self-identity. Self-identity is how we think of ourselves in the deepest part of our Self---how we talk about ourselves to ourselves. Every transition brings with it a shift or a nudge in our self-identity so that, if we choose to be aware, we evolve and/or grow toward becoming the person of our highest authentic self.
5. Transitions support our authenticity. Making friends with who we truly are is a life-long task. Who we were as teenagers is (one hopes!) not who we are today. And we are who we are today because of all the transitions that have gone before. When we choose to engage in our transitions, we have a dynamic opportunity to reveal our authentic self with all its integrity (integration) and see our own potential. What a gift!
6. Transitions teach us to find our inner compass. There is an intuitive part of each one of us that has many names. Whatever we name it, it is that deeper part of each of us that gives voice to our insights and the wisdom that comes from the soul. The more we learn to be quiet and listen, to be guided by our inner compass, the more peaceful and productive our transitions are.
7. Transitions give us hope. The best part of transition is the promise that we have another chance at living; that we are not doomed to live in the same old same old if it no longer meets our needs or serves our goals. It is the promise of each wedding, move, birth, emptying nest, and retirement, that we can find meaning and purpose in the next stages of our lives.
8. Transitions gift us with vision. When we have hope, we dare to put value on that part of ourselves that has vision for the future, not only for ourselves and our family, but for the world.

Be smart! Use your transitions for creating a more fulfilled life. Learn to live from the inside out.