Cultivate Cycle Acceptance
Ever since my son’s personality began to take shape, he was of a logical mind. He prefers the language of numbers. He connects best when conceptual ideas are explained with sequence and order. His perceptions are deeply rooted in the sensory world and must be proven by experience and experimentation. Since I can recall - when my young son and I were able to communicate and hold conversation - I have explained to him that EVERYTHING happens in cycles.
When we would talk of cycles, he would connect. Connect with the idea. Connect with me. Connect with the world around him. During these moments, I could almost feel his synapses firing and his neurons building new pathways through his expansive and pliable mind.
As he got older he began to challenge me. Being logical, he took the word “EVERYTHING” quite literally. I told him that EVERYTHING happens in cycles, and he was going to make me prove it. At bedtime he would give me a single-word prompt and I would have to explain how it was part of a cycle - where it came from, where is it going, how is it going to make it’s way back to this moment?
They began easy. He was young, probably 3 or 4. He would ask about the rain or a tree or a toy.
After time, they began to get more difficult and conceptual. A planet, a galaxy, a person, an emotion.
I would try my best to explain each and every one. The explanations themselves were not all flawless. As they got more difficult and challenging to explain, you could see a twinkle in his eye when he realized that he was stumping his old man. However, even if he didn’t truly connect or completely understand every explanation, he appreciated that I had a theory and was doing my best to prove it.
We don’t have these discussions much anymore now that he’s a bit older. The fun now is hearing him - when he doesn’t realize that I’m listening - explain to his Sister or a friend how EVERYTHING happens in cycles. And when he further explains and provides examples, it warms my heart and brings joy to my being.
This idea is infinite and powerful and has, by no means, originated in my mind. As much as any other idea that exists in any of our minds, it was acquired from the ether or maybe gifted by a muse. Having not given it much thought in my recent past, I am reconnecting with the idea now and am finding solace in it. EVERYTHING happens in cycles.
As the ancient adage states: This too shall pass.
When confronted with difficultly in our lives, we are drawn into the cycle so deeply that we can barely recognize the placement of our current existence within the circle. Where did this come from? Where is this going? Is it going to come back to this moment?
There is no true break from the cycle and to try is only energy wasted. It must complete so the next can begin. Instead, what we must do is to recognize that only parts of us exist within any given cycle at any given time. At any moment - through practiced and refined awareness - we can become the observer of the part of ourselves within the current active cycle.
When we become aware, we can begin to accept. We can objectify ourselves within a process and find solace in the fact that each cycle we recognize ourselves in is in perpetual movement. This too shall pass. You too shall pass within it.
When we accept where we are and where we have been, we can be confident that there will be somewhere else to go. The journey is a path not yet drawn - rather, it is created new, as each minuscule fragment of time progresses into the future. If the current moment is not serving us, we can consciously step back, observe where we exist in the present moment and begin to find ease and joy, simply knowing that the march of time will not allow us to stay stagnant for too long of a period.
We must ride the waves, not as surfers lazily floating atop the water, but as the active seagulls that are floating above it all - witnesses to the crests and troughs of each and every single wave as well as the surfer that is merely along for the ride.
This too shall pass.
You too shall pass within it.
You too can rise above it.
Evan Scharfeld