Mind & Soul: The Transformational Power of Change by Elaine Yoshikawa

New beginnings are new blessings--although on the surface they may not appear like blessings, especially if they are not of our choosing. Transitions can be fraught with difficult new experiences, and so it often gives rise to anxiety, frustration, and sadness. It can be painful and confusing to suddenly find yourself in difficult and awkward circumstances. Partly, the confusion arises from loss of identity. Transitions can be experienced as a temporary diminishment or loss of the self. We are no longer the person we were. This realization can be unsettling. Thus, transitional states not only affect what is external to us, it also transforms our internal life.
While difficult times of transition can be painful and stressful, nonetheless these are the kinds of experiences that mold and prepare us for the next chapter of our lives. New beginnings are rife with opportunities—opportunities for growth, learning, and achievement. They are opportunities for demonstrating and embodying trust. We trust that we have the strength to persevere and to make the necessary changes. We trust that each new path will be filled with enriching experiences that increase our fortitude, strengthen our resolve, and enhance our humanity.
Jean-Pierre de Caussade, a Jesuit priest, likens the turmoil and frustration of a life in transition to a stone that is being shaped by a mason. The stone suffers repeated blows in order to shape and mold it for its ultimate function. The stone doesn’t understand why it is made to suffer, and yet it trusts both the mason and its own purpose: “I know neither what he is doing nor why, I only know that he is doing what is best and most perfect, and I suffer each cut of the chisel as though it were the best thing for me, even though, to tell the truth, each one is my idea of ruin, destruction and defacement. But, ignoring all this, I rest contented with the present moment” (The Sacrament of the Present Moment, p. 56).
Although this poor stone is traumatized, it trusts the mason, trusts that being carved into something new is part of its ultimate purpose, and therefore contentedly waits for the unknown outcome. New beginnings require unwavering faith and inner courage. We don’t know what the future holds; all we know is that we are no longer the way we used to be. However, just like the mason’s stone, we can control our attitude. We can accept, trust, prepare, and grow into our ‘new’ future. We can be content with the understanding that we are being forged into something new for a reason.
Without the mason, the stone would be just an ordinary stone. Instead, it may perhaps be an integral part of a magnificent edifice. Without these transitional moments we would never know what we might ultimately become. Life blesses us with challenges and directs us (willingly or unwillingly) to the actualization of our hidden potential. We may find that we are grander than we could have ever envisioned, all for a new beginning.