The adventure of perimenopause
My life has changed a lot in the last couple of years thanks to my changing female cycle. I have been observing changes in my cycle mainly in the last five years, but recently I am on a roller coaster ride, I have to say. This transforming time is officially called perimenopause and carries as many different aspects as there are women on the Planet. I consider it as a natural initiation customised for the woman who is experiencing it, therefore what I am going to share here is totally and solely relevant to me. Of course other women might find similarities with their own experience, but that doesn’t mean that there is a certain normality, just the opposite: what happens to you is normal as it is your journey. I want to highlight this as we still live in a world where we are steeped in fear and are not very comfortable with whatever our wondrous body does for us; we actually take those signs or warnings as symptoms that need an expert to rectify them, whenever they show up. I never subscribed to that approach to life and I always trusted my body to be wise and knowledgeable more than I consciously am, hence I listen to it and do my best in serving it in whatever way I can to discover more about my self and enjoy my journey.
What next?
As I was saying I have been noticing my female cycle changing a lot and am aware that I am in a phase where I have to be more vigilant than normal and go with the flow literally and figuratively speaking. Let me be clear with this, I used to follow my mind and its demands a lot and ignoring often my body, now this is not an option any more, as my whole being is changing and demanding attention. I am quite curious and intrigued about what is going to show up as a result and feel that my adventure is going to become bigger and bigger. I know that to any physical change corresponds an impact spiritually, therefore I am really taken by this part of my journey. I can say thank you to my hormones for this adventure with unpredictable turns and twists. I believe that hormones are the divine heralds of a spiritual ‘upgrade’ and I like upgrading a lot. I always loved changes in my life, even if at times they can be difficult, but nevertheless these were the times when I felt the most alive and this time in my life is no different. The difference that is undeniable though is that now I can dig into the experience of five decades, whereas before I had less of it and had to rely on the energy and resilience of youth. I do appreciate my female cycle so much that when I started noticing some changes in it I had to come to terms with the fact that one day I will have to say good-bye to it and it will never come back again, sigh, sigh! I have been preparing myself for the demise of my best friend and am feeling better about it now compared to a year or so ago. I will still be sad though when it goes. The cycle is no different to many other things in life, they come and then go and we can only accept them as they are, otherwise we can get stuck emotionally and bring about maladies to help us going back into the flow of life. As I don’t know how long I have still got to enjoy my best friend, I try to cherish it as much as I can and treat every cycle as if it were the last one and go along with the roller coaster experience.
The wisdom of menstruation
This past week I had the pleasure of enjoying a wonderful ‘winter’ where I was graced with blissful states that I hadn’t experienced for a while, because of my cycle changing as I mentioned above. I always enjoy my ‘inner winter’, otherwise called menstruation, and I always look forward to living that natural calm and serenity that come with it. Unfortunately this aspect seems to diminish lately, therefore last week I felt particularly thankful to have the chance to enjoy a proper ‘winter’ at least for a couple of days. What I always long for in my ‘winter time’ is that sense of leaving the outer world to enter an altered state of consciousness where time and space expand and I can be in a flow of knowledge and wisdom that I can’t experience otherwise in normal life. It’s like going into the bliss of being on a silent retreat where eventually the mind gives up its chatter and one can experience silence, calm, have visions, clarity and answers to one’s questions. The beauty of it is that I have insights popping up in my head out of the blue with no effort when I bleed. The difference is that if I go to a retreat I might have to wait at least for a couple of days before I can enter this state of consciousness, whereas with menstruation it all happens in a question of hours!
It’s like taking the lift rather than having to climb several flights of steep stairs, who wouldn’t want that? I certainly do and am super appreciative of it. What do I like of my ‘winter time’? I love that feeling of descending into the void as if I was going underground in a world where everything is quiet and beautiful. I adore that feeling of tiredness that numbs emotions and quiets the mind so that the body can properly rest and recharge. I love that wonderful sensation of being undone and let go of everything and everyone, being alone helps a lot to be able to feel this part, I have to say. Not having things that need to be done, delivered, finished or resolved helps too to be able to experience bliss to its best. It’s a physical sensation like floating in space with no gravity where you can do whatever you want and whenever you want. It’s like going back to be a child when you have no duties and obligations yet and your mind can float freely with the wings of imagination. Facts of ordinary life look even charming and have no impact on the inner state of being, as if normal life magically disappeared. I adore feeling that everything is okay and has got a purpose to exist, that if I abandon myself to Life and trust it, I will experience joy and happiness and will be fine because I am loved and nurtured. I suppose it is a similar feeling of being in the womb where nothing needs to be done and one can just float along like when one dives underwater.
I thought though to share it as I think it is a very important aspect of a woman’s life and is something that should be celebrated, rather than dismissed or not even talked about at all. As I don’t know whether there will be a replacement for it once my best friend is gone, I thought that having a written note might remind me in the future of how lucky I am in being a woman and able to enjoy these wonderful natural states that Nature gives us. If you are a woman still in your menstruating years, I would encourage you to explore the delights of the ‘blood mysteries’ and start considering your female cycle as a wonderful gift. I would love to read your thoughts about your menstrual experience or as I call it your ‘inner winter’. If my experience intrigues you and you would like to find out more about my work with women and their female cycle, check my website: Flying Inspiration
