I've lived in Denver for two months. I love it. It's been the start of my personal reinvention-- a rite of passage, if you will, into my 30s, adulthood, a concerted mission to live my life true to my soul's purpose or die trying.
Spiritually, personally and mentally, it's been a huge success.
However, measure the past two months of my life in economic constraints and you will think my life has taken a turn toward the worse. I ditched my consulting job (that I loved) for a part time job (that I also love). I sold hundreds of dollars of items from my home and reduced my posessions to what feels like next to nothing. I quit drinking alcohol, which I have done numerous times in the past, but this time it represents a reduction in the luxury of wasting time. Though on a global scale, I am still ungodly rich.
This is the first of three three stages of a rite of passage. Separation, transition, and re-incorporation are phases that define socialization, according to anthropologist Arnold van Gennep.
My separation began with the purging of the former self. Somehow I was surprised that this process wouldn't happen in a year. I traveled the U.S., shifted my career focus, cut off my hair, returned to a more modest lifestyle and moved two time zones across the U.S. The symbolic separation from my former self is obvious.
On to the other half of separation, the shedding of illusions, habits, mental tricks and cloudy thinking. This cleansing is a like shoving weed whacker down a plant's stem, and ripping the roots then tilling the soil. It expels thought patterns and delusions incompatible with a more enlightened self that pursues its purpose.
Jul 4, 2011
Nurturing and Stabilizing
In order for a potted tomato plant to maintain stability, dirt in its pot should support the stalk up to the lowest stems growing from the base of the plant. At least, that's according to a friend of mine, who suggested this as we were admiring my fledgling plant's progress. Today I added just a bit more dirt around it, and saw there are more than a dozen flower buds. It's about a foot tall and thriving. If I hadn't added the dirt, it could have began to topple over. The extra dirt should keep it straight as it extends toward the hot July sun.
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