Beginnings and Endings

What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from. –- T.S. Eliot

Sometimes it is hard for us to accept that in order for there to be a beginning of something we want, there has to be the end of something else that we already have. There's only so much "stuff" in the world and it is being endlessly recycled. Things have to die so that new things can be born. Change is inevitable but change often comes in cycles.

We make the mistake of becoming attached to certain ideas, objects, and events; and we become very anxious at the thought of them ending because they have become part of our idea of who we are. We settle into a comfort zone having all the things we are attached to all around us. But this is another name for getting into a rut. There is no change, no growth. Because in order for something to begin, something else has to end. And that something else is often the thing we are most attached to.

Even when we feel bored or restless, we never think about getting rid of the things we have. We want to have both the things we are attached to and the new things as well. We want it all. But the world doesn't work that way. We have to learn to give up things we have grown comfortable with so that we can acquire something else, whether that is knowledge, things, time, or feelings, in order to continue our growth and our happiness. Because we can never be truly happy when we are not growing.

What is it that you have in your life that is not all that important to you but is preventing new experiences and new things coming into your life. Many people have found that when they clean up and get rid of all the clutter in their house, they get more money coming in. Because now there is a space for it to come into. Perhaps you have old and impractical ideas that need to go so that new healthy ones can come in. Or old habits that need to go so you can get new healthy ones. What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from. First we must get rid of what no longer serves us.