Postcard from Manhattan
July 2010
Greetings from 240 Central Park South. As I write this, I am in my Manhattan apartment. For the next four months, I am dividing my time between Asheville and New York. What a wonderful metaphor for my life right now (see the article below).
It’s going to take a while to get used to the energy of the city. Thankfully, Central Park is across the street. Walking in the park grounds me. I am also fortunate to have a number of good friends who live in the city, including my best friend Roy.
I am seeing clients in New York, and since a good bit of my work takes place on phone or plane, my work is uninterrupted. I am grateful for this opportunity. Living in New York has always been a dream.
This opportunity has presented itself for a reason. I am not sure of what it is yet, but I am confident that it will reveal itself in time. In the meantime, I am soaking in the city and having the time of my life as I dance between dualities.
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Dancing Between Dualities
I am dancing between dualities. At no time in my life have I been more aware of the polarities that exist in my life.
Emotionally, I feel sad about the recent loss of a significant other. At the same time, I feel unspeakable joy as my life expands in ways I never thought possible.
Physically, I live between Asheville, NC, and New York City, two places that couldn't be more different.
Intellectually, I am building BuildYourLeaders.com, which that assists organizations by training their high-potential employees in leadership and communications skills. At the same time I am launching a new business, YourInternalGPS.com, for individuals in transition. The new site will debut in the fall.
Intuitively, I am learning to rely on all three centers of intelligence: head, heart, and gut, instead of depending only on intellect.
Spiritually, I am becoming sensitive to the thin veil that separates this world and the spiritual world. While I don't "see dead people," I do feel their presence.
I see myself differently. I am beginning to accept that I am good, and that I am evil. I am kind, and at times insensitive. I can be patient and impatient. Selfless and selfish. Careful and careless. Smart and stupid. Prudent and reckless.
Jungian writer Robert Johnson once said that a primary challenge in life is learning to hold the tension between opposites. While I understand the wisdom in his words, I also recognize that these words are easier said than done-especially today.
Our world is in transition, and with so much change we are fearful. When fearful, we find comfort by trying to bring order to our world; we find order in labeling, defining, and placing everything and everybody in neat little boxes. We lock down on dogma. Our world becomes black or white, devoid of shades of gray.
Now, more than ever, we are being called to celebrate "the in-between"-in ourselves and our world. We can be aware of the chaos that swirls around us; we can strive to hold on to the tension between opposites; but we can also accept that there is divine order in this either-or world. It may be beyond our understanding, but we can trust that it's there and "all is well."
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