Sometimes I feel so stuck, a physical pain takes a long time to heal or I can’t find a solution to an emotional challenge. I know I have to grow. If things don’t change, I have to seek help, I can’t do it alone.

Change, healing, and growth are components of life that we don’t want to avoid.   But they can involve risk, pain, and challenge, so we sometimes need help to step up, to know what to do, and find support to do it

Our body can signal us that change is needed with physical pain and illness. Negative emotions are a strong sign that we have to do something differently.

Too often though, especially with negative emotions, instead of taking responsibility and looking for ways to shift, we look outside ourselves and project and blame. Or, instead of opening to the possibility of change, we shut down and become depressed, discouraged, or overwhelmed.

We may realize that change is needed, but not have the courage or impetus to make change.

We have to risk letting go of patterns, perhaps long standing ones, in order to let in new behaviors and thoughts that could serve us better.

We have to be willing to sever connections that are no longer healthy, to stop over- giving or seeking approval for its own sake, to risk conflict instead of sacrificing authenticity, and to have boundaries around inappropriate behavior.

We may need to overcome inertia to take on a healthier habit, or face our fear of failure to try a new way of doing things.

Life requires work, if we want to live fully: the work of changing ourselves to meet changing circumstances and to back up our insights with action. We may have a sense of what we need to do to feel whole and happy, but we have to take action.

And sometimes we need a lot of support to do that.  Sometimes there are old traumas or very deep patterns, and we may have a lot of denial to overcome, as it frequently feels very unsafe to change or to uncover old wounds.

We may be very stuck.

I love my work because I support people in the transformative process of stepping up to bring change.

Acupuncture connects people to their own inner resources to heal.

My new company, Journey for Purpose, is about creating supportive community and transformative experiences that empower change, healing, and growth.

What can you do today to support yourself on this journey through life? This journey that requires so much courage, so much commitment, so much love? This journey of releasing resistance and embracing what is being offered- this amazing opportunity to face our fears and open to life, connection, and joy.

I am embracing the things that I love, that make me feel good- writing, singing, paddling, entertaining. I am planning things that excite me and learning new things. I am loving my peeps and reaching out.

I am making time to be there for those who need me. I am deepening into my work, trying to serve in a more meaningful way.

I am incorporating rituals to call on unseen powers for help. I am doing what I can to bring change to the troubled world, mostly by helping others in their work.

And in my moments of doubt and despair, when I am overwhelmed or feel that I don’t have what it takes to do what I need to do, I turn to you, my community, for support and encouragement, to remind me of what is true.

We can do this, together.