Judith Cannon, PhD, LMFT

Healing, Growth, Creativity Enriching

Our Lives, Our Relationships, Our World

A Model of Growth

 

A baby grows cell by cell in her mother’s body. As she grows, the space within which she is living becomes more and more cramped. A momentous day is approaching. Suddenly, there is a great squeezing, a pushing in and down. As this pressure, perhaps even pain, continues, she enters the birth canal. If we could interview her, I expect she would ask to return to her quiet dark space, even if it was getting a little cramped.

 

She emerges from the birth canal into the world. Usually, this new world is bright and noisy and she feels things she has never felt before, like hunger and cold. Through her pain and transition, she has entered a time of great possibility. If she had been allowed to turn back, she would have faced death.

 

The process of pregnancy and birth can teach us much about our own growth. Most of the time, we are experiencing incremental, step-by-step, cell-by-cell growth. This growth is so incremental, we may not even notice. Then suddenly, by choice or “accident,” we enter a time of great turmoil. We experience pain and fear. All that we have know and loved seems changed. We have entered the birth canal. We do not know where we are or what lies ahead. If interviewed, it is likely at least some part of ourselves would want to return to the old, the familiar, even if it had begun to limit and cramp us.

 

We can choose to go back. The dying is usually subtle and incremental. Or, we can move forward into the unknown and open up great possibilities. I encourage you to get the support you need from family, friends and therapy to move on to all the great possibilities that await you.

A Model of Growth