As the Paradigm Shifts | Love resides everywhere, always

||| AS THE PARADIGM SHIFTS by ROSIE KUHN|||

This week, after 14 years of love and joy, I said goodbye to my companion Gracie, my dog. My experience in the first few days has been surreal. From the time of her coming into my life, she has been a constant, if not in my physical presence, always in my heart and my thoughts. A practice of vigilance of her presence, her needs and wants have been utmost in my awareness.

Now, there is only me. No Gracie. What now?

Her life spent on Turtleback, romping with joyful exuberance, fetching balls and frisbees, chasing rabbits and deer—Every inch of land knows Gracie. She is imprinted everywhere, always. In truth I can’t feel I’m without her, because she is everywhere always—within me and without me.

LOVE
Change means loss. Loss means grief. For me, personally and professionally, grief is one of the most essential human experiences we can give ourselves. I consider it to be like the Alchemist's Stone. Within the crucible of one’s life, it will transmute all extraneous debris, leaving only pure love—Gold of the Heart.

The idea of grief scares the Bejeezus out of just about everyone. Mostly because the process itself and the outcome doesn’t seem to have a specific value in mind. Though anyone who has gone through grief knows that by going through it, alchemy is taking place.

Grief is an undervalued, underrated aspect of existence as a human being. Truly, true grief is a gift that keeps on giving. I’m attempting to wrap my mind around this truth of life—that this change in my life—Gracie’s moving on, isn’t something to get over. It’s something to value, appreciate and embrace as part of my life.

All Change Precipitates Loss No Matter What
The process of life, through which we all go through, gives us ample opportunity to attach ourselves to bodies, images, personalities, identities, beliefs and truths, pets, people, places and things. Quite often we learn to love the stuff of life and of ourselves and want to hold onto these aspects forever.

However, every step in life brings us to those moments when we choose to either hold onto these attachments, believing we can’t be ourselves, or we can’t live without them. Or we choose to release them, knowing they are holding us back from what’s next. This choice point occurs a million times over one’s life. We die a million deaths as we transcend what no longer serves, and transmute the rest, only to empower and support ourselves in the process of growing into our fullest potential to LOVE.

I imagine a woman who is very much in Love with Beauty and does everything in her power to remain in that beauty whatever the cost. Diet, fashion, cosmetics and surgery—whatever it takes! Many of us judge one’s pursuit of beauty in this way. However, the big T Truth is that the experience of LOVE resides within, and is the catalyst for all she does to bring beauty into her life. She is afraid to lose Love. She won’t, because she can’t. If she is open, while she ages, grief can show her the truth—she is beauty, because she is love.

As I catch my patterns of thoughts of Gracie, I can distinguish which are habits, because of our everyday connection, and how each is deeply rooted in Love! My devotion to her is deeply rooted in Love. So, my grief is an opportunity to visit Love everywhere, always.

I walk in the morning and in the evening, in memory of all the ways she’s infused the planet with her precious presence. Of course, I cry and feel the loss of all the habitual patterns of being—worrying, scolding, frustrated, angry, and the delight of her happiness. Underlying it all is Love.

Grief is the Alchemists Stone
When allowed to do its work within the crucible—meant only for growth and expansion, grief will reveal purest love, always and everywhere!

For a lot of us, when someone or something dies, we believe we will never experience love again. I could feel that way, however, I realize that I have so much Love in my life. I experience love for my children, my home, for my work, my clients, God, Nature and so much more. Gracie was just one avenue through which I expressed Love.

To remember this is to hold a perspective that allows me to embrace the Love that is always and Everywhere. Because of Gracie, yes. But more importantly because of my devotion to growing Love no matter what, no matter where, no matter who.

In the moments that feel excruciatingly unbearable, I know these to be the moments of Alchemy. I know that Gracie, too, is the Alchemist’s Stone. Without her, I could never have come to know Love as I do. And her constant presence and all the Love she infused on Turtleback will allow me to remain in love, with her, forever, always!

So, why do we go through this over and over again, with new pets, people, places or things? Why do we choose to pursue love in all of these ways? Because, we are pursuing the experience to know LOVE, and express LOVE, to BE LOVE, always and everywhere.

All of Us are Growing Love Through Grief
The longer I’m alive, the more compassion I’m able to experience for each and every individual on the planet. Through my own process of loss, discernment, grief… I know that everyone who chooses to be here on the planet are working through whatever it takes to experience and express LOVE and BE LOVE. We are all learning Love together!

Everyone in relation to pets, people, hobbies, careers… are courageous in their willingness to Love. It takes courage to be in process of knowing that love is, always and everywhere, even when what we believe to be the object of love has transmuted, through the Alchemy of being.

When we get this, we aren’t so afraid of Loving. At least, for now, it’s what I’m practicing. Heaven only knows what is unfolding, in Love!

Rosie is available for coaching sessions in person and on line. And, if you are interested in more of what Dr. Rosie has to offer, visit her website: www.theparadigmshifts.com. And, her books are available through Darvills, Amazon and Barnes and Nobles.