Lately, as summer stands aside for autumn to fully enter our lives, I have been contemplating the cycles and rhythms of life. The ebb and flow of the tides. The growth, harvest and dormancy of the seasons. The waxing and waning of the moon. The life cycle of a butterfly as its cocooning transforms it from a fuzzy caterpillar to a glorious winged soulbird. Life is constantly changing within its cycles of birth, death and rebirth.

This led me to think about the cycles of my own life, especially my creativity. Sometimes I feel bursting full of energy and ideas and my hands can barely keep up with my imagination. This is the “Doing” part of my cycle. At other times I feel empty and don’t want to do anything at all. It is during those times that I feel the need to fill up my emptiness. But first it is important that I sit with the emptiness for awhile before I start filling. This is the “Being” part of my cycle.

As a true Capricorn, I feel the most comfortable when I have a concrete goal and am working (Doing) hard towards that goal, whatever it may be. It is the times when my psyche starts sending me signals that it is time to enter the “Being” part of the cycle that I struggle with the most. Perhaps it is the part of me that thinks that I am not worthy unless I am being productive that finds it challenging to just “Be”. But isn’t the butterfly growing and transforming within her cocoon, her “Being” time? Isn’t the moon still there even though we can’t see it? The tide recedes but look what treasures it brings in.

So, I am sitting with these thoughts and am starting to understand that “Being” is just as important as “Doing. It is part of the cycle of our lives, yours and mine.

What do you think?