BREAKING OPEN

ARE YOU BREAKING DOWN OR BREAKING OPEN?

A friend was describing a burnout experience she had a few years ago and she used a phrase that my mind can’t seem to let go. She called it a breaking open. Now that’s something that I haven’t heard before. A breakdown yes, a crash, perhaps a collapse but not a breaking open.

It’s interesting how that small change in how we name things makes all the difference. Breaking open means to let things out in the open, but it also means letting things in. It’s a cleansing system or event that happens and if we are careful, it transforms us for the better. But if we slow down you, like me will perhaps recognise the reality that you want that for other people but not for yourself. I meant who wants to break? Seriously. There is an exposure, a risk, a fragility that comes with breaking open. For one, you don’t know what will happen. I mean for the most part people who have the courage to embrace breaking open experiences have come out on the other side better at life BUT there are people who have not and the thing is, it is not obvious why some people live and others die, literally and figuratively speaking.

Here’s a fact, life will always handout to us all those pivotal experiences and the difference between the ones that emerge at the other side better and braver is how we navigate.

So now that that is out of the way, why should a person embrace the “broking open” experiences of life and engage with them in a way that is meaningful and leads to a better life? I think it is because of possibilities. Anything can happen. The life of your dreams is possible if you want it. It is also possible to be better. Because no matter where you are at in life, you know in your heart that it can be better and that alone is worthy of our efforts.

Breaking open can mean laying bare our darker parts. Lies we believe, addictions we have, dark thought and fears that govern our lives. But I think it also opens space for light and truth to do what only they can. Here’s a fact, life will always handout to us all those pivotal experiences and the difference between the ones that emerge at the other side better and braver is how we navigate. I am still ruminating over this thought and what it means in my own life especially now so I have a sneaky feeling I will be writing more about this in the future. Until then, what does breaking open look like in your life?