(Continued from Expansion, Part I by Viva Dating Diva Travis Brady)

As I was saying, I just finished reading one of Paulo Coelho’s books. He’s really one of my favorite authors writing about spirituality, the connection to the universe and things like love, obsession, truth and the frailty of being human.

The one I finished is, “The Fifth Mountain,” a tale of the time before Elijah took on his fated god-duty. Now, I’m not religious, but I love reading about religious ideas and stories especially by Paulo because in them he reveals small insights into human nature that are really very big lessons.

One of the lessons I took away was from this passage he wrote:

Elijah says, “… Sadness does not last forever when we walk in the direction of that which we always desired.”

The little boy he is raising says, “Is it always necessary to leave?”

Elijah answers, “It’s always necessary to know when a stage of one’s life has ended. If you stubbornly cling to it after the need has passed, you lose the joy and meaning of the rest.”

What I saw was how coming into the final weeks before marrying, I’m clinging to some old ways. Old ways of acting defensive and closing my heart instead of expanding.

It’s scary standing on the brink of the next life stage.

All things will change and be different. Some will be for the better and some will be harder. That’s really what happens in any transition. My hope is that the better will be so much better as to far out weigh the difficulties.

And, I see when I chose to date differently, more consciously; I was telling myself that I was ready for this different life stage that’s rapidly approaching. Dating differently with a purpose to be more conscious sends waves of energy into the ether to say, “I’m ready for the next big thing.”

There is sadness in being alone and deep in the life stage of “singledom” sometimes. But as Paulo says the sadness will not last forever. This is a truth. One to believe and know. If we walk in the direction of what we desire our new life stage is bound to show up. The key is having a heart that can expand enough to let the new stage in and allow the old life stage to gracefully slip away.

For more dish on dating, go to datingwithapurpose.com.