"It's all about expanding spiritual awareness."
-Lisa Solis DeLong
We move through life with certain theories and beliefs about how things work. Whether we realize it or not, these theories and beliefs are guiding our interpretations and consequently our every decision.
In other words, they are shaping the life we have right now.
For example, in Lisa’s story, she had a theory that even though life had dealt her a blow, things would recover and she would live happily ever after. So, even though her son Justin suffered with leukemia and went through the treatment, he would stay in remission and life would be great. And certainly, none of her other children would go through something so traumatic.
I thought the same thing with my daughter Aria. When she got leukemia, went through the years of treatment, and then achieved remission, I believed that was enough suffering for one person (or a family). And we would be done.
We were wrong. There was much more suffering to come.
So the theories blew up. They didn’t make sense because they didn’t fit with reality; with what was actually happening.
Now what? Well, for Lisa (and for myself) her theories and beliefs got challenged to the core and she accepted that challenge. (Not without a fight).
Her paradigm cracked. And as we humans do, she wanted to make sense of things.
Paradigms are like anchors. The ground us in this world. They make us feel safe and help us know how to live. When they don’t make sense anymore, it causes disorientation of a powerful magnitude.
This is what happens when you’re in a transformation process; when you’re on The Hero’s Journey. The paradigm/reality where you comfortably reside — which includes your theories and beliefs about life — comes apart. It’s profoundly scary.
What Lisa found and what I have found (and what my coaching clients find), is that there is still meaningful life afterward.
While our paradigm might have come apart, we are ushered into another one that accounts for our new findings. And we carry the knowledge that this new paradigm isn’t the ultimate truth either, but a chamber to visit on our pathway through life. There will be more paradigm explosions, or subtle shifts, and they become slightly more welcome than that first big jolt. You become a veteran. A seasoned traveler with a looser grip.