Is your life Still - or Stuck? How to know the difference.

“The quieter you become, the more you can hear.”

– Baba Ram Das

Think of life as a ferris wheel that expands. Not just a circle — but an ever-expanding spiral upward.

As we live, we ride up to its apex and we experience life, growths, achievements, in the highest form we can muster. We finish school. We leave home. We start our first job. Maybe marry and have a family. We enjoy the harvest we've sown. The sum of our past lifetimes.

At the top of the ferris wheel, we may even stop for a while to enjoy the view!

It appears that we've mastered life. We get comfy in our realms and experiences. Yet for some of us (in time) our hearts yearn for more. The yearning may be triggered by an external event. Or it may be an internal shift, a restlessness. A desire to experience more, know more, or understand why you're here.

Then in time (which is different for everyone), the ferris wheel begins its descent.

The inevitable descent and the cycles of life

As we inch downward, our hearts respond. What used to be bright now casts shadows. What used to inspire now falls flat. The juice that kept you up all night has run low, tumbling you into bed early. Your dream job affects your health and doesn't seem worth it. Your heart begins to seek.

We slip, we slide until we reach the bottom and at the bottom of the ferris wheel, we encounter the energies that we've denied, avoided, chosen to keep hidden. The karmic contracts we've sown, and agreed as a soul to face. The situations life asks if we now wish to release and transform: it's always our choice.

At the bottom, we may again pause. If we embrace the challenges, we will eventually experience stillness, a natural time in the cycle of life, where we're being asked to Trust. Or, if our heart resists change, resists letting go, we may stay at the bottom longer. This is what some call stuckness.

It's not an easy place to be here, at the bottom of the ferris wheel. At this point, some may even consider getting off the ride entirely.

The awakening and letting go

In the ferris wheel of life there are new beginnings, celebrations. There are also catalysts, endings, letting go. Endings may come in the form of sudden loss. Dramatic transformations may also take place through re-commitment and re-invention.

No matter how life on earth unfolds for us, our souls are wired for growth. This is evident to those of us who are awakening. Our hearts yearn to breathe, to open, to stretch, to experience more and ascend. Anything we do to clamp our hearts down slows energy flow in our bodies. Slows Nature.

Yet even when we embrace these cycles with an open heart we still have “moments”. For letting go isn't easy for us humans. Trust isn't easy.

Stuckness binds you. Stillness asks for your trust.

So the first thing you can do today, now, in this instant, is to accept the nature of your heart. Accept Nature, wanting to continually grow.

Then consider that after a descent, should you experience one, there may be a natural period of stillness before new energies come in. This is the tension point, a tender time that isn't easy (I am experiencing this now myself). Yet remember: in order for our souls to transform lifetimes of patterns, of habits, of karma, of emotion in this dense earthly life takes time. Patience. Persistence. Trust.

This Natural Stillness feels vacant, empty, as if nothing is happening. You may feel limp, exhausted, your mind perplexed by the silence and lack of “productivity” if you're geared toward that, like me.

You may wonder what you need to do next and the truth is: you need to rest into the stillness and trust, while holding your dream. You need to experience this fully, consciously, and respond to the new information, the people and situations coming in, and hold it all with curiosity.

Rest into the Stillness. You're completed a cycle. New growth is near. Circles upon circles upon circles of life, get bigger as we move through them. More abundance, more love, more connection, more. The more we release during the times of Natural Stillness, the higher we're able to go, and the longer we'll stay at the top next time 'round until we remain there: permanently.

Stagnation or stuck-ness feels different. It's not still, peaceful, vacant. It's a knot in your stomach. Stress coursing through your cells. A veneer of brittle control. An edge of panic. Deteriorating health. A thick layer in your heart that feels heavy, and a feeling of terror at what might happen, if your heart opened wider. What might come out (and perhaps, who you might hurt in the process).

Stuckness is willful, like clinging to a cliff with shaking hands. Stillness just is. With stuckness, you probably know what's keeping you there. With stillness, there may be a lack of clarity and uncertainty, but it feels open to movement. Stuckness? It feels boxed in, sticky, closed.

Stuckness creates pressure, chaos, challenges around you, which increase and don't tend to be temporary. Hey, I've been there too.

Yet it's always your choice. There is no judgment, whatever you decide. WHAT TO DO? Go outside, and put your bare feet on the ground. For Nature knows. She hibernates in winter. She emerges in the spring. She blooms. She dies and season over season, she flourishes.

Meaning of life articles for your heart. Created with love.

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