We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time. – T.S. Eliot
It’s easy to get stuck thinking life is linear and forget that the learning curve is actually a spiral. We may come around to the same places again, the same issues, the same things that confound us, but every time we arrive at something that feels like a life-challenge repeat, it’s never quite the same learning or quite the same lesson. That’s because we are never the same person.
We come with more experience, more knowledge, and more insight. This wisdom we carry within us informs our responses, gives us a fresh take, and lets us see deeper into the heart of the problem and more importantly, deeper into our own heart. This is where the real problem solving begins and how we finally start to see the truth that’s been evading us. Each time we navigate another obstacle we’re higher on the spiral curve of learning. Starting over isn’t starting from scratch, it’s an opportunity to level up.
Just because we may revisit an issue doesn’t mean we’ve failed to solve some great mystery of life, or some illusive inner paradox. It has less to do with figuring life out or arriving at an absolute and more to do with how present we are and how clearly and whole-heartedly we enter into any given situation. Some lessons are inherently more difficult to learn than others, often because we can’t quite see what’s being asked of us. We miss the gist of what is really going on, get distracted, irritated, or sidetracked. What we’re really being asked to see is something subtler, use our discrimination and discern what we’ve been missing up until now. This is what sets us up for greater growth and expansion.
What seems like the same problem or conundrum is really an invitation to look deeper and understand what hasn’t been sorted out yet. And the truth is sorting out our insides is just as important as figuring out what’s going on outside in our day-to-day. We always have another opportunity to come back around with greater insight and deeper awareness to see what’s being asked of us. Then we get to decide how we’ll answer. This is the way it goes, we complete another cycle, connect another dot, and finally make sense of what we couldn’t before because we just didn’t have enough information or understanding.
Now we do. This is the gift of spiral learning and coming around to embody more of ourselves as we move through our lives. We’ll never stop exploring but it’s important to pause and take another look from a place of greater wholeness. This is how we finally see the same old things for the first time, because now we can see them with more of ourselves. Cultivating this clarity and deeper awareness empowers us in how we choose to move forward.
Don’t be afraid to keep exploring and don’t be surprised if you find the only thing that has changed is you.
kb
