MAKING SPACE// Calling In and Letting Go

Photography by Clary Chambers 2018, in Vancouver British Columbia.

The nature of bringing certain things into your life
will require movement.
Shifting, clearing, releasing.
Calling in requires space,
And space is made by letting go. 

A positive way to think about
the squeezing and discomfort of change,
is reframing it into the shape of a “U.”

We start at the top, look across-
the edge of a canyon. 

The thing to call in
(self-love, healing, career, zero waste, minimalism etc.)
is only vision, goal, resolution, intention.
It’s written down,
planted
in your mind. 

Not sure how to cross over,
your calling becomes phantom
a word, idea, image, feeling, dancing whisper-
not yet lived experience.
Then you forget,
get along with your life. 

Deep in the canyon,
the bottom of the “U” starts to shift.
A vine like Jumanji snakes up to where you stand,
wraps around your ankle,
pulls you in.

Suddenly you’re sliding down.
But the descent is disconnected,
(seemingly)
unrelated
to the original intention. 

In terms of working towards goals
(less plastic, zero waste, minimalism, healing)
you’ve seen pictures of the end point,
have ideas of what it looks like
from the outside.
(but this is not how it feels
on the inside)
You’re told external things to do-
bring that, do this, go here- it’s easy, nbd.

The whole emotional landscape of real change
seeps its way into all areas of your life
in unexpected ways.
It’s definitely not something you prepared for,
heard about,
saw a picture of.
Everything shifts under your feet-
rearranging tiles.

But in order to cross over,
you have to do the work.
Go down to the bottom of the “U.”

This is where calling in becomes
letting go- clearing, releasing, making space.
Where magic happens.

You go down to the bottom-
figure out how to get up the other side
without sliding back.

Reframing all stages of the “U”
(process, letting go and unraveling)
as part of calling in.

The reality of change,
is
it’s not easy,
you have to work at it.
But
letting go of an old way of being,
a pattern, struggle, attachment,
(which may include loss and grief)
creates space
for a new way of being.

Like compost
it’s cyclical,
pouring nutrients back,
death
and a phoenix rising