Something really huge is about to “jump off” in Universe Penny. For the novice blog followers, “jump off” is slang for the more affectionate & familiar: happen.
I am in some kind of crazy cycle of coming and going, doors opening and closing, seeing the white of folk’s eyes and then willingly (or unwillingly) – weeks later I am savoring a back-of-the-neck view.
Transition. Sure, it starts with a “T,” but much like “Perception” the transition(s) I am experiencing start with the positively, pure, and poetic: P. I am certain transition and perception are bedfellows. I am also certain that as bedfellows, they argue with fury over whose turn it is to be “on top.” I’ll bet perception usually wins, because people enjoy believing what they WANT to see, not what reality offers. Transition on the other hand is all missionary and boring and expected and predictable and puts you in a life-place that wreaks: “Just lay there and take it. It will all be over soon.”
So, because I am a creature of insatiable research, I found this “Three Phases of Transition” chart. The only thing sadder than my finding it is the fact that it exists. I KNOW something “peculiar” is happening in my sphere of God-fluence. When I view the chart I think, “Gee…where exactly am I?” I certainly can’t be in all three phases at one time, but then again, could I?
Definitively, I am in the “Neutral Zone.” I can best identify my “Zone” based upon the special little sentence at the bottom:
“Identity: Not who we were – Not yet who we will be.”
I love that.
I am sooooo not the Penny of years of yore (Thank God), but I continue to evolve and grow and suck-it-up when given criticism, but stand firm when I know someone is speaking, or trying to speak something into my life that is simply “off the mark.” I was recently told by a man who had known me less than six weeks: “You are sooo self-absorbed.”
I am definitively not self-absorbed. A decade ago, I would have cried and tried to rationalize the behavior and justify what was perceived. At this point in my life, such measures are simply not necessary. I am simply in transition and it takes way longer than six weeks to experience and indulge: Universe Penny. I am not self-aborbed by any stretch of the imagination, but I am totally self-consumed with a plethora of personal, medical, financial, career, relationship, creative STUFF. Sometimes there’s just not room for anyone else to be absorbed by the Penny Sponge: it has already reached aquatic capacity. Sorry!
So, looking back at the “NEUTRAL ZONE” chart, it cites:
Undirected energy typified by confusion, anger, fear, and frustration.
Can the church say Valium? I mean really. Ok. Maybe not Valium, but can the church say Rum and Coke? Ok. Maybe not Rum and Coke, but the church CAN absolutely say, “Write a blog Penny.” Munch on some Chex Mix, and blare “Earth Wind & Fire” The Essential Compilation PLUS.” 
That’s what I’m doing. My energy is directed, my music is blaring (and I hope my Condo neighbor’s friggin’ ear drums melt, ooze to the carpet, and are then licked by my other Condo neighbor’s lurking cat which will thus mame and name her a death mute.). Now THAT’s anger. I need to get past that part of transition quickly.
Earth, Wind, and Fire is blaring track #1: “Mighty, Mighty.” (Major, Major old school)
Lyrics:
“Mighty Mighty”
Walk around, why wear a frown
Say little people, try to put you down
What you need, a helpin’ hand
All the strength, at your command
How’s ya faith? Cause ya faith is you
Who you kiddin’, to yourself be true
Spread ya love, for a brighter day
For what ya search, you’ll find a way
We are people, of the mighty
Mighty people of the sun
In our hearts lies all the answers
To the truth you can’t run from
Eagle flies, every seven days
Still cryin the blues, all about ya pay
What ya gonna do? Bout your living thang
Will ya make it better, or just complain
Everday is real, don’t run from fear
Cause better days are very near
There are times when you are bound to cry
One more time, head to the sky
We are people, of the mighty
Mighty people of the sun
In our hearts lies all the answers
To the truth you can’t run from.
Now THAT’s music. THAT’s when lyrics spoke truth and ya know, each night as I have been writing and or laptop pecking or working through my me-ness, I pump this CD and “Mighty, Mighty” blesses me. I never realized what a stream of transition-perfection and optimism it speaks; I initially just enjoyed the jam-vibe.
Everday is real, don’t run from fear
Cause better days are very near
There are times when you are bound to cry
One more time, head to the sky.
I couldn’t have said it better myself, and actually Earth, Wind, & Fire kinda mimics the King James Version in a very “Book, Chapter, Funk” way:
- “Be anxious for nothing, but through prayer and supplication, let your requests be made known.”
- “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”
- “Look to the hills for which cometh your help, your help cometh from the Lord.”
Earth, Wind, & Fire is saying the same thing(s), the angels just blessed us with funk and live music (unlike the digitally enhanced circulated garbage we know today). Perhaps “Funk and Transition” are also bedfellows. Usually a Transition follows after I’ve been in a funk, (but not an R&B Funk.)
Change (equals) New horizons (equals) Difference (equals) Differences.
New friends (trump) Old Friends (replace) Acquaintances (become) Constituents.
And, is a reason, season, or a lifetime really a valid theory or simply a Juanita Bynum concept?
It’s all relevant to the journey we all must take to discover who we are becoming, who we are no longer, and most important, having the personal, mental, and spiritual fortitude to NEVER, let anyone else on planet earth define the aforementioned for you. Oddly, the word journey contains the alpha’s necessary to form the word “YOU.” (Only die-hard Scrabble fans would have picked that up).
Walk around, why wear a frown
Say little people, try to put you down
What you need, a helpin’ hand
All the strength, at your command
Don’t let little people try to put you down and or define your transition. I will, however, take a little person’s kidney if that pending transplant is necessary. I mean, God is no respecter of persons and neither am I, so hey…insults and put downs aside, if you’re a match, I am doggone sure willing to get a quick case of amnesia and forget your put down for a new organ (just saying…).
OK. So back to the “Transition Chart.” I am ready for Stage 3: “New Beginnings” in sooooo many ways and in soooooo many areas. It cites:
Commitment, Enthusiasm, Trusting (Yelp, Yikes, Yowza)
I’ve been a part of that triad before, and I believe it was a decade called the 1990’s. This breaching “50” thing is no joke. Just when you think you’ve conquered all of the tough stuff, you have to endure another transition, and then another, and then another. It’s like living life in an airport without ever having a “non-stop” flight.
You spend half-a-century airborne and then experience a series of layovers in crappy towns called “Suckville”: one, after another, after another. (Surely you didn’t think I was going to avoid being metaphorical?)
Penny or rather “Universe Penny” can endure this. I am more than a conqueror and I shall NOT be defeated. And not that I feel compelled to explain, but referring to myself as a “Universe” is not ego driven, it’s simply thinking big. I have to position myself as being bigger than what is in front of me, to accept what is behind me, in order to embrace what God has ahead of me. Dig?
Right about now, Earth Wind & Fire is pumping Track #11: “Sing A Song…”
When you feel down and out
Sing a song, it’ll make your day
Here’s a time to shout
Sing a song, it’ll make a way
Sometimes it’s hard to care
Sing a song, it’ll make your day
A smile so hard to bear
Sing a song, it’ll make a way
I “Dig” God. I so very, very Dig.
Transition with a “P*
Penny Dickerson 2012
Penny Dickerson 