“The World ain’t coming to an end my friend; the world is coming to a start. I feel it in my heart”—Purlie Victorious.

“The affect of this transit (Uranus square Pluto) is to sweep away all the old and outworn structures that you have built up in your life”—Robert Hand

For many people, the planetary alignment in cardinal signs (Aries, Libra, and Capricorn) coincides with unexpected leavings and endings of jobs, relationships, and ideals. These changes shocking and unexpected changes happen despite attempts to control things. If you are experiencing sudden, disruptive changes, Life is graduating you. The timing, shocking and disorienting as it may be, is the right time for you to awaken and regain a sense of aliveness and wonder. View the unexpected as a higher calling and a realization of your heart’s desire, remembering that what’s in our hearts is often unconscious.

Although experiencing a rebirth in your lifetime is a profound opportunity and privilege, it can still feel scary. If your crisis feels overwhelming at times, ask for help and expect divine guidance. Find a therapist, spiritual counselor or astrologer with whom you click. Identify one or two people who will listen compassionately and help you keep your eye in the direction of the prize. You’re disoriented so that a new direction may be revealed to you. Learn to live gracefully with the unresolved. In any crisis, faith means knowing with certainty that there is a resolution that will emerge as the crisis is faced, embraced, and viewed as potential treasure. No matter what kind of loss you face—finances, health, creativity, lifestyle, home—orient yourself towards the mysterious Force that has brought you to this consequence. That Universal Force is within. What appears to be an end, loss, or mistake is a passageway to a new life.

Be Wise Like a Child

Much of what I understand about living the life we love is revealed by the painting process mastered by children. Children are art masters because they haven’t yet learned perspective, color theory, or how to draw anatomically correct people. Children paint from the inside out, they paint their biology, life experiences, and they paint their personal truths. They paint their true colors. Before they become overly acculturated and learn to make nice or get stuck in anger, children are naturally authoritative and open. They dare to say no! They dare to say yes! But in the hopes that they will be cared for and loved, way too many children grow into adults who cannot express themselves healthily.

Notice how frequently the sun shows up in children’s artwork. The sun is a symbol of self esteem! The sun in the sky symbolizes high self esteem. Children, when they are allowed to be children, instinctively know that they are one with the sun, that they are an expression of that primal life force burning brilliantly, forcefully, and uniquely as the sun.

You were once a child. Remember! Where is that child now? Is he or she languishing under duty, pressure, and numbingly appropriate or outrageously unskillful behavior. Is the child glimpsed in your spontaneous laughter, a willingness to try new things—your capacity to feel what you feel, show some emotion, and keep it moving? What did you love to do when you were a child? Do you recognize elements of what you loved to do in who you are now?

In art, the paint might drip and mess up your pretty painting. But I have discovered that when the so-called mishap is embraced rather than resisted it opens a portal to something energetic, soulful, and deeply moving in the painting. In the creative process of art and the art of living, I’ve learned to trust the process rather than tightly guard the product. Have faith. Rather than stare at or worry about the problem or product, pick up your brush and move it, or pick up your feet and walk away from the limited known to the expansive unknown. Do what is at hand, no matter how little and far from the goal it seems. This is how you have faith.

When the unexpected oops happens in life or in your artwork lift your eyes to the metaphorical sun in the sky and know that there are far more possibilities beyond the horizon than the ruin at your feet. A discovery is beckoning you, a new talent seeks expression, and an idea is being seeded within. Cultivate courage and recover your spirits and good humor. Be resilient. Have a leap of faith. And have fun.