Swinging for Peace

“There’s peace in the transition,” she hears.
“Where? I can’t feel it.”
She sits on a swing facing the uneasy lake.
The wind blows a cold shade of violet on her fingertips.
“You just have to trust the flow of life.
Breathe deep and swing.”
“But I’m cold and uncomfortable,” she says as she folds her arms and
bundles into her jacket.
The most difficult part of any situation comes in the transition -
from single to married,
from sheltered to homeless,
from unemployed to employed,
from wealthy to poor,
from believer to unbeliever,
from one city to the next,
from drive to reverse,
from inhale to exhale.
With transition comes a staggering genius –
a wavering faith.
Balance is altered and harmony gets intruded upon.
The wind places the girl’s hands on the chains.
“Breathe deep, and swing,” he says.
She kicks forward and begins to rock back and forth,
moving up and down,
kicking her legs forward and backward,
until she closes her eyes and finds the ease in the momentum.
“Breathe...” the wind whispers in her ear.
“Inhale up...exhale down.”
Her grip loosens and her effort is less as she trusts the flow,
the inhale and the exhale,
the up and down,
the tide coming in and going out.
“It’s the ego,” he says, “that creates the struggle.
See how easy it can be if you just
put in the initial work and then
let the flow carry you?
Do the work,
and you become the work.
Don’t fear the transitions.
Between every inhale and exhale
there is a moment of stillness.
Stay conscious
and you will experience and understand
the peace in the transition.”
She swings her song
with her breath flowing sweetly,
easing the trepidation
and feeling the peace in the transition.