Open Heart with Lu Leslan

Metamorphosis

• Lu Leslan

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0:00 | 10:47

What if transformation isn't something you choose? In this episode, Lu explores metamorphosis as a magical, unstoppable and risky process happening in all of us—visible and invisible, in darkness and in light. She shares the butterfly's secret (complete dissolution before emergence), a deeply personal story about bringing a premature infant into the world, and why our tears are the seeds of transformation. Three profound questions anchor the episode: Does anyone know another person completely? Does it matter what my children think of me as a human being? Can humans trust each other enough to make something greater than themselves?

SHOW NOTES:

IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Metamorphosis defined: meta meaning change, morphe meaning form
  • The butterfly's secret: complete dissolution before emergence
  • The real risk: a fetus and womb—neither knows what the other will become
  • Personal story: bringing a premature infant into the world
  • Tears as seeds of transformation—our yearning for more humanity
  • Three questions: knowing others, children's perceptions, collective trust
  • The transformation process needs no approval, no permission—only trust
  • The practice: noticing dissolution, sitting in not-knowing

QUOTE: "The caterpillar doesn't cry. But we do."

SHARE YOUR STORY: lu@leslancreativestudio.com

NEXT EPISODE: Break Free – The Season 2 finale.

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Thank you for joining this journey of openness and self-discovery. If this episode resonated, please consider subscribing and sharing with someone who might also benefit from my personal stories and insights.

RESOURCES MENTIONED:

Lu's first documentary: Take a Bow: The Ingrid Clarfield Story (2011)

SPEAKER_00

What if transformation isn't something you choose? What if it's happening to you right now, visible and invisible, in darkness and in light, whether you're ready or not. Welcome to Open Heart Podcast. I am Lou Leslan, your host. This is a podcast where we share ideas, stories, and questions with an open heart so we can be kinder and wiser to ourselves and each other. Every week we'll discuss a topic where I share my observation, ideas, and questions with you, and I would love to hear your thoughts, comments and reflections too. Please send them to Lou at Leslan Creative Studio dot com. Today's topic is metamorphosis Metamorphosis, four syllables that carry the weight of everything we are about to explore. From the Greek meta meaning change and morph meaning form. A change of form so complete it becomes something else entirely. In the last episode we explored intention. We learned to set direction without forcing outcome, to trust the process to begin again when we drift. And I said, When you set intentions from this grounded place, you don't just change, you transform. That's where we are now. This magical process of becoming something new is happening in all of us, in nature, visible and invisible, great and small. The sea becoming a tree, the caterpillar dissolving into something unrecognizable before emerging with wings, the child becoming an adult without knowing exactly when it happened. It's a work in progress, both in darkness and in light. Like witchcraft, we cannot put our finger on it. We think we know what is happening, and yet it has been eluding us for millennia. Science can explain the butterfly's biology, but it cannot explain the experience of becoming. Most people think this process is about growing wings. It isn't. Inside the cocoon, the caterpillar doesn't gradually develop wings, it completely dissolves into biological matter with no recognizable form, no structure, just potential. From that complete surrender of what it was, something entirely new emerges. This is not change. Change is surface level, a new habit, a new perspective, a coarse correction. This is structural, fundamental, irreversible. You cannot go back to being a caterpillar once you have wings. There's a real risk in metamorphosis. It's like a fetus growing in a womb. Neither knows what the other will become. Totally unpredictable, entirely unknown. My own experience of bringing a premature infant into the world taught me this. We have absolutely no control. This process doesn't promise beauty, it promises transformation. It is unstoppable. Whether we embrace it or resist it, whether we ready or not, whether the timing is right or completely wrong, life transforms us with or without our permission. There is something else this process asks of us. Our tears are the seas of transformation. Every time we get teary at a piece of music, a conversation that cracked something open, a moment of unexpected beauty or unexpected pain, our hearts yearn for more humanity. Tears aren't weakness. They're not failure. They're the body's signal that something old is breaking down, that something new is trying to emerge. Our tears represent the essence of human transformation. The caterpillar doesn't cry, but we do. And that capacity to be moved, to be broken open, to fill the gap between who we are and who we are becoming is what makes our transformation uniquely human? Lately I've been thinking about these three questions. Does anyone know another person completely? Does it matter what my children think of me as a human being? Can humans trust each other enough to make something greater than themselves? But here's the deeper question. Can they know who I am when I am still becoming? Can anyone know another completely when we are all works in progress? And if the answer is no, if complete knowing is impossible, then what remains? The transformation process needs no approval, no permission, no celebration. What it needs is trust. Every great thing humans have built required trust. Every bridge, every hospital, every piece of music that moved you to tears, every act of reconciliation between people who had every reason to remain enemies. These require people to let go of something, their certainty, their pride, their need to be right and emerge as something greater than themselves. You cannot force this, you cannot schedule it, you cannot control its outcome, but you can recognize it when it's happening. Notice what is dissolving in your life right now, not with panic, not with resistance, with curiosity, with willingness to sit with chaos, with acceptance of imperfection. Everything this season of open heart has prepared you for this. Ask yourself, what old structure is dissolving? Can I sit in the not knowing without forcing resolution? What is trying to emerge? You don't need to answer these questions, you just need to ask them. The process will do the rest. It is magical, unstoppable, risky. It happens in darkness and in light, in the visible and invisible, in the great and the small. Our tears are its seeds. Our yearning for more humanity is its fuel. Every human life from birth to death expresses the scope of this journey and the stories from within. It is rich, complex, dramatic, simple, and mysterious. We cannot pan it down, we can only move through it. With everything we've learned this season. From capturing a single thought to metamorphosis, there's one thing left to do. Break free. That's where we're going next. I'd love to hear your story, thoughts, and questions. Please send them to Lou a Lesland Creative Studio.com. Thank you for joining me for this episode of Open Heart. This is a podcast where we share ideas, stories, and questions with an open heart so we can be kinder and wiser to ourselves and each other. Take care.