I love, love LOVE the quote by Timothy Gallwey…
“The rose is a rose from the time it is a seed to the time it dies. Within it, at all times, it contains its whole potential. It seems to be constantly in the process of change; yet at each state, at each moment, it is perfectly all right as it is.”
I find the ‘it is perfectly alright as it is’ particularly powerful. Add to that ‘contains its whole potential’ and VaVa-Boom – exceptionally powerful concept. We hold within us, our full potential for who we are meant to become. Our full potential is within us, whether we are 5, 50 or 75. Whether we fulfill that potential or not depends on the environment we create for ourselves. If we insist on treating the rose like a morning glory, forcing new growth to twist and climb, while buffing off the thorns as they appear, it’s going to perform quite poorly. It’s probable the plant will still grow, and may even blossom, but it’s utterly impossible it will become a morning glory.
But if we nurture the seed, as it grows unhindered, transforming through each stage from seed to sprout to seedling to blossom to bud, and finally to a rose, that seed yields its full potential, through a constant state of change.
So many of us – myself included – fear change. And yet, change we must. A seed cannot express its full potential and remain a seed. The seed yields to the next and the next and the next stage, losing itself as it becomes more of itself as it ‘changes.’ Such a paradox.
What if it were true that we are perfectly alright as we are right now, back then and going forward? What if being constantly in the process of change, is a normal part of being human?
Contains its whole potential, constantly in a state of change, and perfectly alright as it is. Transformative right?
Without change, our potential is hindered if not lost completely.
Change is not to be avoided. Change unleashes potential.
Embrace it, thorns and all, at every stage along the way!
