# 182: Transitions
Story behind the Passage
Sometimes I find my books with all these pencil marks and underlinings. Sometimes I just find dog-ears. Today’s book has dog-ears. I do not know why. Maybe I did not have a pencil when I read it? Did I want to protect the book? It does not matter. A conversation today made me remember the book immediately. A woman searching for her soul. A woman searching for the next step. A woman regretting the present a lot, regretting the past a little. A woman not knowing if there is a future or more of the same, more suffering. Eat, Pray, Love might be considered chic lit, especially for those who only watched the movie with Julia Roberts. As always, I never did. I just read the book. And I loved it.
My Learnings
In tears, always on the run.
The next task here, the next call there.
Where are my keys?
Where did I park the car?
The rain is pooring.
The soul is searching.
The grey city has no mercy.
Every day feels like hell.
Transitions seem easy for some.
Transitions are hard for others.
When are you in?
When are you out?
Deciding on the future is tough.
Deciding to end the past is tougher.
So much energy wasted.
So many friends lost.
Running away from oneself works,
If one is able to never stop running.
But humans need a home.
A home in oneself.
The rules are changing,
People are cheating.
What had value yesterday,
Is laughed about today.
Nobody seems to see it,
What is inside.
Or do they?
How can they?
Finding oneself is alone is hard,
But there is no other way.
People want to help,
They see the pain.
Trapped in one’s thoughts,
Crying over one’s life.
Regretting it the next minute,
Feeling ashamed.
So much misery in the world,
so much luxury here.
But its does not help,
Sadness does not know a bank account.
Where is the way out?
There is no guide.
There is no feeling for self anymore.
Only attempts — every day.
It starts with trying,
The others say.
Where there is courage,
There might be change.
On the way down in the valley,
There is hardly any light.
If the bottom has not been reached,
There is only more dark.
Please, time, turn your wheel.
Make the days pass.
Make the feeling return.
Make the tears roll.
Transitions have to be.
Transitions keep us alive.
Transitions are life.
Transitions dig holes in the heart.
One day they will fill up again.
There will be an “after.”
There will be relief.
There will be a new life.
Reflection Questions
1) Did you ever feel like you were in an endless transition phase? How did you get out?
2) What would you tell a friend who feels like a new phase in life is about to start but it is full of uncertainty?
3) Could you ever imagine yourself spending some time in an Ashram in India like the protagonist in Gilbert’s book? What would be the most rewarding thing you might find there?