Regeneration

As I watched the sun set over the beach last night the sky blazed with a deep and intense redness. In the final moments before sinking over the horizon, as the sun became a blazing orange eye surrounded by red scorched clouds I was sent a profound message of fire and re-birth. Regeneration was the ultimately the evocative message being communicated to me.

It made me think about how often we see ourselves as being the same all of our lives and how we try to emulate our younger selves and get cranky as our bodies change. We hold onto a captured moment in time when, in our opinion, the perfect body existed. The reality is we are nothing like our younger selves on a physical level. I know I certainly don’t look like I did as a baby, or a teenager, or even just two years ago. My blonde hair as a toddler has long disappeared, I don’t have the same milk teeth I once did and even my eye colour has changed. My nails and hair constantly grow and are replaced. It’s all part of renewal.

I know that every cell of my being that made up ‘me’ as a child no longer exists in the ‘me’ of today. I also know that I will not look the way I do now in ten years time and my body will continue to go through this amazing, beautiful process of regeneration. Consider for a moment just how much of you has physically changed since you were born. If you were able to put ‘you’ as a baby beside the ‘you’ of today, it would be hard to believe it was the same person.

So if we accept this process for our physical growth why can’t we accept it for our spiritual growth? Regeneration on a spiritual level begins with a fire deep at the centre of your being. It builds momentum as the flames are fanned with the positive realisation that change can be achieved. When permitted, the fire will continue to burn, consuming all that has gone before it until only ashes remain in place of limiting beliefs, creating the perfect conditions for new growth. Unlike our physical changes that continue on an innate level, to regenerate spiritually you must surrender. You must be willing to shed the old to make room for the new.

At one of the lowest points of my life, I remember a fire burned in the pit of my belly. The heat would not die, could not be extinguished no matter how much wine I poured in and it wasn’t an ulcer! I knew it was the fire of life and passion calling to be stoked. Although I cannot remember from where or whom, I have the following passage written in my journal from that time, “You are stronger than you think you are and your strength assures a happy outcome. See yourself as strong and victorious. Don’t complain about anything. Don’t blame anyone or any condition. You are the embodiment of strength, not victimhood. As you rise above the old tendencies and see yourself in a new light of beautiful feminine strength, your life will shift in miraculous ways. You’ll attract new opportunities, forms of abundance and relationships to help you manifest your highest potential. Being strong means seeing yourself in the most favourable light you can imagine. Be real, allow yourself to feel genuine emotions, but most of all be strong.”

Those words alone were enough at that time to fan the flames within me. I read, re-read and read those words again and again until I believed them. The fire spread within me in an all consuming fashion as I surrendered, let go of fear and eventually rose from the ashes like a phoenix. From seeing myself as a lost soul I did see myself in beautiful feminine strength and my life did shift in miraculous ways. New opportunities flooded in as did forms of abundance and relationships to help me reach my highest potential...and they still do because I continually surrender to regeneration.

I know that second chances, third chances, fourth chances and more abound. There is no limit to the amount of regeneration you can go through when you are on the path to a better you. There is no stopping point for you even if you think that you are past it, too old, too fat, too busy, too downtrodden, too trapped etc. You may think you have missed the boat, but that is never the case. Just look at your amazing body as a reminder and ask why the miracle of regeneration should be restricted to your physicality. It just doesn’t make sense.

So you have not missed the boat. You never will miss the boat. It’s waiting for you now at the shore, ready to cast off into the burning eye on the horizon anytime you are ready to surrender and climb aboard.