Breakdown, Breakthrough

In working on my book intensively these past few months, I've been acutely aware of something surprising. As many of you know, I'm writing about the typical crises professional women face today (12 crises of disempowerment, to be exact), and I'm realizing that:

1) I've experienced all of these crises, some at the same time, and several of them more than once
and:
2) I'm in the middle of a few of them right now!

This realization made me stop in my tracks this week, and ask myself "How well can I help others if I'm still going through some of these very difficult dilemmas, and haven't resolved them fully?

As I asked these questions, I had a bit of a "breakdown" - not a clinical breakdown, but a deep realization that there are several key aspects of my working life that still aren't at all where I want them to be. This led to an urge to "break down" these problem areas to their core elements, their essential nature, and understand what's truly going on at the most fundamental levels.

In breaking down to the basic elements what's not successful or positive in my life, I somehow had a "breakthrough" - I allowed myself to fully feel the pain of what isn't working and see clearly how my blocks are negatively impacting my life. Doing this hard inner work allowed me to gain acceptance of the pain, and by doing so, I could release it. In essence, I broke through. Not completely, not in all areas, but in a way that allowed movement -- beautiful, powerful movement, that carried me safely past my blind spots to the other side, this time.

To help us all understand more about the process of breakdown to breakthrough, I'd love to hear from you about your particular life experiences:

1) When has breakdown led to breakthrough in your life?
2) What has needed to happen in your life for the breakthrough to occur?
3) What areas continue to challenge you the most? Where are you hoping for a breakthrough to happen?

I'm very grateful for your insights and thoughts. Thank you for sharing.

Wishing you a time of great movement and release.

All best,
Kathy