Do you remember standing on the sidewalk with family and friends to watch the parade in celebration of Canada Day? Lawn chairs, snacks and small excited children in tow… I sure do. In June, we now celebrate sexual diversity with gay parades across the country. We’re making huge strides in our willingness to accept the differences of others in our country. This is one of the many reasons I love living in Canada.
I was recently heard my friend, Belinda Betker, share her new poem in a book launch on YouTube. Belinda wrote a beautiful and poignant poem called “Why a parade?” Her words, captured the internal angst, that for many years people have struggled with- keeping their true sexual identity hidden.
Transformation, really living into your authentic life requires coming out of a “closet” too. It takes courage, and requires a making a decision. Do we continue to conform or do we choose to transform? The word transform means going beyond our current reality. The new reality is a shift in our thinking about who we really are, and what we are capable of. This requires moving beyond familiar habits of thinking and being, and it takes rigor. It can feel easier to default and make a contract with mediocrity. In relationships and friendships, the message we sometimes give one another is, “I won’t change if you don’t change.” There’s fear that if we do live into the full expression of who we are, we might rock the boat… we might make waves…and we might outshine another. So, we tell ourselves it’s just easier to blend in and accept the status quo, but is it? A line in Belinda’s poem speaks of the 70-year-old man standing vigil at the hospital bed of his dying, secret lover. Imagine the effort to keep that kind of love from pouring out into the world…and for how many decades?
Everything you are looking for is within you, waiting to be fully expressed. You are more resourced and powerful then you know. Why not live into your possibility? The caterpillar must end its life, for the butterfly to emerge… but the butterfly has always been there, waiting. To paraphrase Belinda’s conclusion, she writes; For all the people who don’t fit the stereotypes and the norms, who are still discovering themselves…who are brave enough to embrace the TRUTH of who they are, of who YOU are…That’s WHY A PARADE! Why not choose to create the life you would really love to live, and live it? Blessings for a Happy July,
Lynne