Birthing Pangs - new beginnings

New beginnings. A birth is often a joyous occasion - and with the new fresh beginning of life comes the relief and rest after what can be a painful and hard labour. Birth does not always mean a new addition to the human race or the animal kingdom. It can also mean a new life, project, experience or even a slowing down, reduction and removal of familiarity. When people enter retirement and move from working life to a different way of being it could be seen as a birth of something new rather than the ending of something - a new beginning.

My life has had many endings and beginnings - no different to anyone else. Many things and people come and go. We make new friends and lose some along the way. New jobs, new homes, new communities. I believe its important to celebrate as well as commiserate.

With the death of a friend we grieve for our loss. They, on the other hand, are experiencing something new - and it doesn't matter if you believe in life after death or some kind of spiritual moving on, the most basic of new beginnings is the end of one life as the body becomes something else - if not just food for the plants.
Personally I do believe that there is more to life - the soul or spirit of a human being is not just ended but transmutes into something more. We are made of energy - the stuff of the stars and to just 'end' is not a concept I support.

Endings are necessary to allow rebirth. The process of endings can be both exciting and painful - like labour pains. Mothers giving birth can take hours of hard work and pain before the baby is pushed out. Other beginnings can take months and sometimes even years before the new birth is ready to burst into life. And this can happen time and again.

I find each time something new is ready to begin, I will try to mull over the process as it arrives. Meditate on the experience. When did I realise it was another new beginning and an ending to what came before? Is this a small birth precipitating further developments? Is this the culmination of many changes to reach a certain point of change? How much do I grieve what is ending or is it a long anticipated change.

Once more I am moving through the birth canal. The labour has been quite intense for about 18 months now although I wasn't aware at first that this was the development of new life till fairly recently. But it is reaching its zenith and the moment to wet the baby's head is coming. To be followed by any number of further developments to this new 'child' and whatever will come from it.

............isn't it exciting!!