@ april 2001 O|Tl"l - 13 Living the Questions: Some Reflections on Navigating Change BY ANYA RAVEN HUNTER Knowing that “the only thing permanent in life is change” is one thing; navigat- ing the waters of change is something else indeed.‘ Change is so difficult for most of us most of the time. Be it a sudden change like a death or break-up or a more predictable transition like a move or job change, changes ‘can really rock our emotional balance, our sense of self, faith in our spiritual connec- tion, and_sense of justice/pur- pose/meaning. _ These change-jolts rock us in a world that often seems hay- wire and senseless anyway, making any personal destabi- lizations even more threaten- ing. Not to get too philosophi- cal, but what exactly is ‘change’ anyway? Some changes are beautiful—the sun setting over the Adirondacks, a glorious fresh snowfall. diagnosis, a relationship end- ing, career upsets) feel almost life-threatening they are so disruptive. One definition of change might be that something is dying while something else is being born, and that every . living moment is a moment of this very process. The really disruptive changes are the ones in which we don’t like what is dying and feel very unsure about what is being born. These changes chal- lenge us to take ourselves apartland come back together in new ways, to see our lives as a living process, as wild and mysterious as that sunset and that snow, instead of as stable, certain, predictable and correct. So, when you find yourself , in a storm of changes, how do you know what to do? How do you let yourself lose what is ending and stay open to what may come?) How do you steer your course accord- ing to the compass of your integrity and vision and feel good about your choices, your direction, and your place in the scheme of things? One good answer is to ask good questions. Go deeper into the uncertainty so as to ‘unknow’ and redo yourself. Question your costumes, your familiar doorways; fess up to the real place of the current situation. .Channel the life energies vibrant all -around you - power your boat, your body, your fading and your neophyte dreams. And listen to what comes back to you. I want to offer here some good questions of the go- Others (a disease‘ deeper type, questions I’ve’ used in my personal transi- tions (most recently, some career shifts, a legal name change, and the loss of my mother to Alzheimer’s) and in my holistic counseling prac-' tice with individuals and groups. These are miracle- questions really because of the way they access the power energies of our chakras and their connection with uni- versal energies. As you can see, the questions relate to the universal life energies each chakra channels—~safety and trust, for example, or connec- tion and inspiration. Asking the questions opens us up to the energies of the related chakra and taps its power for creative change and guid- ance. Holding the question “What can I rely on?”,‘ I dreamed an ANACONDA, an earth-power greater than what I ever conceived I could feel. In size, this ANACON- DA is much bigger than me, and she is teaching me about opening to the jungle’s appetite for life. I can trust this jungle snake to feed me and to fight for me, no doubt about it - a first chakra gift of food, safety and ground, as my aging mother is slipping away. This, for me, is real ener- gywork——great forces/quali- ties/vibrations are alive all around us and available to us as we need, ask, and attune to them. By asking and opening we receive what we need to change, and to learn. Questions aren’t for answers; they’re for learning. We are taught in our cul- ture that we have to get it right, have the answers, and live up to images, our own, others’_ and the media’s. To live with the unknown, with change, transition, and uncer- tainty—with growth, process, decay and mystery—is unheard of, daring, and true. Anya Raven Hunter; MA, MSW, LICSW has training in energyworlg the arts and psy- chotherapy and has been in private practice as a body/mind therapist since 1988. She loves doing life transition work with people and integrating energywork, visualization and creative process work with more tradi- tional insight therapy. She works with individuals and groups, in person and also in telephone consultations. She can be reached at her Burlington oflice at 802-425- 5433. " Chakra 1 (Earth—trust, ground, life energy) What do you rely on? What is .the source of your energy? Where do you go for food? Where is safety, home, ground? What do you allow to feed and replenish you? What sup- ports you? How do you support yourself? Chakra 2 (Water—creative source) Where is your creative power? How do you get in touch with the pools of creativity, resourcefulness, passion, and impulses that are uniquely yours as well as universal? What is your greatest passion? What do you feel? _Chakra 3 (Fire—will, power, definition) Where is your strength? Your power? What will you do, no matter what? What are your rights? What is your turf? Describe your most beautiful and true system of beliefs. How can you be absolutely honest with yourself about these changes? Chakra 4 (Air—breath, longing, inspiration, generosity, interconnectedness) What is your heart’s desire? your heart’s free- dom? its song? its inspiration? What does your heart long for in the way of generosity, beauty, kindness, mercy, and ease? Where and how do you long to be related to earth, to animals, to people, to purpose? What do .. you need to grieve? to forgive? to let go of? How do you allow unconditional love? Chakra 5 .. (Sound—shape, form, truth, guidance) iWhat is your truth? your true voice? What can you stand for, stand up to, speak for, and tell of? What structures really suit you? , Where do you turn for guidance? How do you trust and act upon your guidance? A Chakra 6 (Vision-sky, cosmos, insight, wisdom, dreams) What is your vision? What comes to you in dreams and insights? How do you see the Big Picture? What is your true relationship to time and space? . Chakra 7 (Ether/All—spiritual knowledge and connection) What is your spiritual connection? Where and when are you most at peace, most at one with yourself and the world, most whole? What uplifts you? Where is your connection to the universal, the cosmos? What is truly - asked of you? What do you most want to give‘ to the world? ' How might you work with these questions? One at a time, the ones you are drawn to—meditate ‘and -listen. And play with them—create, write, draw,‘ dance, chant, sound, imagine, dream, play. Let the ‘unheard of come in.