We all have our patterns. The cycles we fall victim to. The fallen logs in the forest we’ve passed a few too many times already.
It’s frequently said that healing is not linear. Learning is not linear. Progress is not linear. It’s more like a spiral. An upwards spiral.
Progress is earned by searching through our cyclical patterns for an opportunity: To make a change. To alter our trajectory. To aim higher. This usually means reliving the same patterns an interminable number of times, in numerous iterations, before we can leave them behind once and for all. Grandiose changes rarely last, so we’re looking for humble consistency. The effect may seem underwhelming, but it’s cumulative.
We tread the same ground so that we can keep seeing what we need to change. And then we tread it ’til we change it. And then we float over it, seeing it from new angles, so we can understand how to never end up back there, or anywhere like it. And then eventually, maybe, we fly away.
The importance of a spiral is that it is not a circle. If you look at it from the wrong angle, though, or without the appropriate vision, you can’t tell the difference. That can get disheartening.
But, trust me: If you’re trying, it’s a spiral.