“loosen my heart, until it becomes a wing”
- charlotteshristi
- May 24
- 3 min read
I began painting the metamorphic process during the COVID pandemic, inspired by the idea that crisis can offer an opportunity, a portal leading to transformation…a chrysalis.
The longer version of this story is that I had been asked to contribute a work of art to a group art show, on the theme of envisioning a sustainable future for my community. In the process of finding photographs of my town and painting a fairly realistic imagined scene, the global COVID-19 pandemic unfolded. My painted vision of downtown included buildings with roof-top gardens and solar farms, light-rail train, reforested pedestrian mall surrounding the square, open-air farmers’ market, outdoor café seating and a park with children playing on the shore of a small pond.
However, this painting wasn’t finished no matter how much I played with the details! Other imagery was begging to become the focus of the painting. The details of what a sustainable future looks like, became secondary to the how, of that transformation!
An article, “What if the Virus is the Medicine”* introduced me to the idea of crisis as opportunity for metamorphosis. Our belief systems and institutions fail so many people, often the most vulnerable. I started asking myself…..can we re-imagine a social structure that includes and cares for all people as well as the planet whose life-support system makes our existence possible? What would this transformation look like?
It’s crystal clear to me that the same domination worldview leads to both the oppression of people and the exploitation of the planet. We were, and still are, in desperate need of a shift…. from a domination model to a partnership model. One in which we stop buying into lies that separate us and make us fearful and suspicious of each other…. people divided and conquered instead collaborative and thriving.
If you’re reading this, you survived a global pandemic not so long ago! We are all scarred in some way by the losses we witnessed or experienced. Now we face new crises, both real and fabricated….and too many to name. Could allowing personal transformation and larger societal transformation be a necessary stage in order to see the way forward. Change almost always feels scary and threatening. Challenging our own strongly held assumptions and beliefs is nothing short of a total metamorphosis.
When we’ve crawled our whole lives, we cannot imagine that the way forward is to transform, and so begin flying. Instead of giving up on the possibility of thriving together, of a livable future, lets take the plunge into the unknown……the process of metamorphosis into something new. We can do hard things and we’re being called to do them now. We can do the inner work required to transform into a being capable of flight…. Someone who’s part of the change, part of the solutions that are so desperately needed. My prayer?... “Loosen my heart, until it becomes a wing,” a line borrowed from Dawna Markova’s poem “I Will Not Die an Unlived Life.”
I Will Not Die an Unlived Life
I will not die an unlived life.
I will not live in fear
of falling or catching fire.
I choose to inhabit my days,
to allow my living to open me,
to make me less afraid,
more accessible,
to loosen my heart
until it becomes a wing,
a torch, a promise.
I choose to risk my significance,
to live so that which came to me as seed
goes to the next as blossom
and that which came to me as blossom,
goes on as fruit.
I love the eagle and condor flying together in the golden chrysalis. So beautiful … and your words too. Thanks for the inspiration Charlotte:)❤️🙏🌳🌎