What if we let the Light guide the way?

This text started with my curiosity about the origin of the expression (which does not exist in English) DAR A LUZ (GIVING LIGHT, which means GIVING BIRTH). I didn't even start researching because I chose to reflect on the countless life circumstances in which we use childbirth as a metaphor and the comfort that light brings in the darkness. I even wrote a poem:

Sometimes I wait so long in the dark,

that it's harder to choose to get out of it

than staying there in the dark.

The dark? Ah! This one I know well.

 

And lights appear in my life.

I wonder,

But, you know what? Just from a distance, okay?

I choose to let it go ...

 

Sometimes I don't even see

or remember that the lights exist,

because my gaze is on the path that is already behind

and not on the way to follow.

 

What if I choose to look ahead and follow the Light?

 

Author: Cintia Orsi December 19, 2020.

When asked if the caterpillar metaphor that turns into a butterfly has the same meaning and impact for me as the metaphor of giving birth for transformation, I reflected and meditated on the subject. I concluded that both could mean many different things. In addition, the meanings and impacts differ from person to person, so, while recognizing the limitations and personalization of metaphors, I would like to share my perspective within some parameters, taking the lens of my life trajectory, experiences, knowledge and gifts. I would love to hear your perspective on these metaphors for your life.

Both metaphors refer to:

1. Complex processes that require waiting and patience

2. The result of the transformation is joyous and beautiful.

3. It involves a biological process that, once started, cannot be paused.

 Butterfly:

1. Passive

2. It looks spotless and painless - although we don't know that

3. Self-centered

4. After butterfly, the transformation responsibility ends

Childbirth:

1. Active

2. Pain and suffering as part of the process

3. Centered on the other

4. After birth, the transformation responsibility begins

In the search, perhaps unconscious, to avoid pain and suffering, we could choose the metaphor of the butterfly to allow ourselves to know and create the opening to the new and uncertain.

When we know about pain and surrender to the truth of who we are and our purpose in the world, we stop running from discomfort to embrace something much bigger, focused on the path, the learning process, and the value of our presence in any life circumstance.

The Portuguese language has an expression that does not exist in English. "GIVING LIGHT"- whose literal translation does not exist in English, the translation is GIVING BIRTH - . Without entering into the discussion of the various interpretations that this metaphor could refer to, it rescues the hope of better times, whose end is wonderful and whose process is painful.

Giving birth = Giving Light = Make way for the Light to arrive. Being the light for the baby that has been developing within the mother's womb, or the Light that came to illuminate the world's darkness.

A waiting process, which goes through the pain but at the same time remains strong in the hope of greatness to come.

What if this was a time of choice? What would be the metaphor of your choice? What change would it represent?

 With love,