You might be wondering, “What heck does perturbation mean?!!” So, just in case, here’s a definition just to start the conversation on the right foot (or the left foot whichever you like).

PERTURBATION

• PERTURBATION (noun)

1. an unhappy and worried mental state
2. (physics) a secondary influence on a system that causes it to deviate slightly
3. activity that is an intrusion or interruption
4. a disposition that is confused or nervous and upset
5. the act of causing disorder

Perturbation is a physical and emotional state, which some people might describe as chaos, breakdown, falling apart, out of control or just plain “loosing it”.

Perturbation is an experience that happens when it’s time for a change and the universe is supporting you by interrupting your “how it is”.

Perturbation can be worrisome and scary if you are not aware of what is happening to you…feeling out of control and wondering “what’s happening to me?”.  And it’s interesting how when one breakdown happens like your car not starting and then you go home and discover that the clothes dryer just stopped working…and on and on!

THE GOOD NEWS IS:  You find yourself uncomfortable and thinking you are “loosing it”….and you are!  You are loosing  anything that you have been trying to control and keep together and making space for something new that works even better for you!

Like a remodeling a house.

You have to take down the old stuff before you put up the new stuff, right?

It’s all okay, stay present with it and you can enjoy the ride…remembering that your reality is break downing (dis-assembling, falling apart, loosing it) to allow the breakthrough (assembling) for a new and expanded you!

A great example of how this process works in nature is:  (Scientific American  By Ferris Jabr)

“But what does that radical transformation entail? How does a caterpillar rearrange itself into a butterfly? What happens inside a chrysalis or cocoon?

First, the caterpillar digests itself, releasing enzymes to dissolve all of its tissues. If you were to cut open a cocoon or chrysalis at just the right time, caterpillar soup would ooze out. But the contents of the pupa are not entirely an amorphous mess. Certain highly organized groups of cells known as imaginal discs survive the digestive process. Before hatching, when a caterpillar is still developing inside its egg, it grows an imaginal disc for each of the adult body parts it will need as a mature butterfly or moth—discs for its eyes, for its wings, its legs and so on. In some species, these imaginal discs remain dormant throughout the caterpillar’s life; in other species, the discs begin to take the shape of adult body parts even before the caterpillar forms a chrysalis or cocoon. Some caterpillars walk around with tiny rudimentary wings tucked inside their bodies, though you would never know it by looking at them.

Once a caterpillar has disintegrated all of its tissues except for the imaginal discs, those discs use the protein-rich soup all around them to fuel the rapid cell division required to form the wings, antennae, legs, eyes, genitals and all the other features of an adult butterfly or moth. The imaginal disc for a fruit fly’s wing, for example, might begin with only 50 cells and increase to more than 50,000 cells by the end of metamorphosis. Depending on the species, certain caterpillar muscles and sections of the nervous system are largely preserved in the adult butterfly. One study even suggests that moths remember what they learned in later stages of their lives as caterpillars.

Getting a look at this metamorphosis as it happens is difficult; disturbing a caterpillar inside its cocoon or chrysalis risks botching the transformation.”

If a caterpillar can do all that, certainly we can let go of control and trust the process of how humans do their evolution too.  And just like in Star Trek, interfering with one’s evolution by “trying” to control it will never work. Each person and each culture must experience their own perturbations and ride the waves of their own metamorphosis and evolution.

Freedom takes the willingness to allowing you version of your “imaginal discs” to “do their thing” while you let go and trust the process.

Your awareness of the nature of perturbation will allow you a greater overview of what’s happening to you so you can let go of trying to control it and do your best to enjoy the ride knowing that the new and expanded experiences are on the other side…thanks to  the goodness of the universe (i.e. thank goodness)!

To embracing your perturbation,

Crystal