Words, Wisdom, and Letting Go

Spring's message of endings and beginnings

“The Bard used the power of the word to lead us to the Mystery”
~Philip Carr-Gomm

Photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash

There’s a special kind of magic in seeing ourselves recognize that it’s time to let something go. Even months ago I would have fought fiercely to hold onto a thing so precious and so intrinsic to who I am, and yet now I witness myself opening my fingers and letting it drift away, like dandelion seeds in the wind.

This path of mid-life seems to bring new surprises at every turn! I never imagined that this new season of my life would so quickly shift into an ending of my Aromatherapy practice. I’ll admit that I resisted the idea for months— until the deep knowing settled and I sensed the peace that the decision brought.

I’ve heard it said that at menopause and mid-life we care more deeply and at the same time, we don’t care at all. This really seems to fit how this decision landed for me.

I care deeply about the value and power of Aromatherapy as a healing modality. In many ways I see it as more powerful than I ever have. However what I’ve realized is that the ecological state of aromatic plants, and the climate of natural healing modalities and products in Canada is so different than when I began, that it no longer aligns with what I need to honour for myself.

This is one of those times where one might say “I’m too old for this”. In this case, it’s absolutely not that I can’t do it.

It’s that I have lived these decades to be wise enough to choose to not involve myself in things that lead me away from myself and what I’m prioritizing in this season of my life.

The thing is, we are not our work. Therapy helped me unearth and dig into the concept that I am not what I do and that I exist outside of my work. It’s this understanding that crystallized the knowing that it was time to focus on what I was feeling a strong pull to prioritize—myself and my family.

What an empowering change! Acknowledging that a season had come to an end meant I could give myself permission to no longer stay with something because it’s what I’ve known. I’m now being brave and walking that fine line of uncertainty— balanced between trepidation and excitement— as I wait for what’s next.

Which brings me back to the opening quote. It was through writing, and especially my journalling practice, that a sense of a new path opened in front of me—as if by magic!

As I wrote, the words poured onto the page in what seemed an emotional puddle of nonsense. And then I began to see a pattern as words repeated and flowed into meaning. My words showed me that I have a soul-longing for the space of simple and slow; and now is the season for me to honour this longing.

As I see the beginning of this path before me it looks pretty barren! It feels a bit scary to step into such emptiness, and yet I can sense the space to explore new ideas; to deepen existing hobbies and maybe even learn some new ones. There’s room to prioritize my heart’s call for calm and quiet, and my desire to focus on myself and my family. There’s capacity for welcoming more of what brings me joy!

Maybe this is what the idea of mid-life caring is all about—caring enough about ourself to listen to our intuition and take a stand for our needs. Caring enough to answer this call of our innate wisdom and trust the power of our words to lead us into the mystery. Caring enough to not only hear our heart’s voice, but to follow her guidance and create a new season of life built upon her softly-whispered longings.

“The Magic of a threshold”, captured by author