Love Letter V-The Ilusional Duality
On circular paths, shifting structures, and the art of returning
Within me live many selves, each rising and receding like the tide (I’ve always enjoyed analogies with the ocean).
Some believe life is linear: a forward march, one milestone following another. And for a time, I held that belief too. I thought if I could just keep building, brick after brick, I would eventually arrive at my destination, a kingdom of my own design.
But the truth is that life has never moved in a straight line. Instead, it loops and spirals. I find myself revisiting lessons I thought I had learned, feeling things I thought I had buried, meeting new versions of myself that feel oddly familiar.
Circularity isn’t failure, it’s the rhythm of becoming.
Like the hero’s journey, your path unfolds in arcs that repeat: each chapter carrying a beginning, a challenge, and an ending that quietly opens into something new.
Again and again, you begin- not from the same place, but from a deeper one.
Still, I sometimes fear the “pause” in my progress. I fear missing the moment, getting left behind, or not being enough when I finally arrive (we are all prone to the impostor syndrome). But I’m learning that fear, too, is a part of the journey. It’s the part that reminds me I’m alive, and that I care deeply about walking with intention.
We all carry fears. We all protect ourselves with invisible walls. We imagine that if we build strong enough structures in our relationships, routines, roles-we’ll be safe. But these constructions, while comforting, are often illusions. Eventually, they tremble. They fall. And we’re left standing among the ruins, wondering who we are without them.
What I’m starting to understand is that the kingdom was never the structure.
It was never about the bricks.
The real kingdom lives in the ongoing choice to begin again-over and over.
Because while life appears linear, one day after the next, one step at a time- our becoming is embedded in a circular rhythm. We cycle through beginnings, endings, and middles all at once. We hold joy and grief in the same breath. We return to old versions of ourselves only to meet them with new eyes.
There is no final destination. There is only this moment and the gentle return to ourselves within it.
🌿 This Week’s Compass
What rhythms am I moving to and are they truly mine?
Where am I walking in circles not as a failure, but as a form of wisdom?
Can I soften into the cycles, and meet each return with new eyes?
✨ A Ritual: The Spiral Seat
Once this week, sit somewhere quiet with a notebook or just your thoughts.
Close your eyes. Take 3 deep breaths. Imagine your life not as a straight path, but as a spiral expanding outward with every turn.
Reflect on:
What moment or lesson have I found myself revisiting lately?
How does it feel different this time around?
What is this return inviting me to notice, release, or reclaim?
Let this be a reminder: you’re not going backward-you’re deepening.
With Love and Light,
Allison C.