And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom. – Anaïs Nin  

Fictional characters have to grow. But in real life growth becomes a choice, an option. As I’ve been through the wringer of grief and loss during the past year, like a good writer I observed myself and the people (characters) around me. Some withered and withdrew; they entrenched into habitual patterns to find comfort. Others grew away from me and moved in a different direction, and some stayed pretty much the same. I chose to grow and learn from the experiences.

Nothing in life remains static and all changes propel us into spiritual growth of some kind. A few years ago a dear friend found herself unexpectedly admitted to the hospital for open-heart surgery. Instead of fearfully closing down and lamenting her fate, she literally experienced it as a journey, an adventure. As a result she healed quickly. She never complained or played the victim, but instead she used the experience as an opportunity to grow, play and has become highly creative!

Go back and look at a time of change or crisis in your personal life story. How did you react initially? What was the final outcome? Something pulled you out of your ordinary world (as author, Christopher Vogler calls it) and you marched (some of us like me last year were dragged) across the threshold into a new, unfamiliar world. Life offers us a very creative adventure. Examining your personal experience opens the door to creative ideas – a story, a poem, a series of photographs or a collage, maybe even a new life path or career. Maybe it’s time for you to take the risk to open up and blossom into something new that’s calling you. What will it be?

Bio: Debra Moffitt is the award winning author of Awake in the World: 108 Practices to Live a Divinely Inspired Life and “Garden of Bliss: Cultivating the Inner Landscape for Self-Discovery” (Llewellyn Worldwide, February 2013). A visionary, dreamer and teacher, she’s devoted to nurturing the spiritual in everyday life. She leads workshops on spiritual practices, writing and creativity in the U.S. and Europe. More at http://www.awakeintheworld.com and on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/DebraMoffittAwakeintheWorld