Breaking Down Vs. Breaking Open

Life can sure be hard....no doubt about it. There's not one of us who doesn't suffer, often from our own making. We do the same thing over and over, expecting different results. We try to change others rather than grow ourselves. We socially isolate, emotionally dissociate, excessively medicate, compulsively masturbate, continually procrastinate, alienate, hate....and then it's too late.

The crash hurts. It can be a hard fall that comes suddenly or after a long gradual descent. You may be the last to know or the only one who knows. Either way, hitting bottom doesn't leave many choices: shut down into the death of your spirit or open up to the possibility of a new life with new operating instructions. Sometimes a breakdown is the start of a breakthough. It's rarely a sudden transformation (although it mimics that at times), but the breaking open allows the old infection to drain out and heal in the sun and light. And then a new strength emerges.

The 13th century poet Rumi wrote:

There is a secret medicine
given only to those who hurt so hard
they can’t cope.

This type of defeat is the preparation for a new life. You are at this moment poised between your history and your destiny. Seek to remain open and your growth will exceed the limits of your imagination.
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