What needs to die in your life so you can start anew?

Christians around the world celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ today, believing he was crucified, died, buried, and rose again to atone for the sins of the world.

Christianity is not the only religion with a resurrection narrative, probably because it’s a potent metaphor about life. Everyone, whether Christian or not, can benefit from understanding the symbolic aspects of the resurrection story.1

Before we can have a new life, we must let go of parts of ourselves or aspects of our lives keeping us stuck. In other words, something must die before there can be a resurrection and rebirth.

This is not usually a fun process, which is why we so often avoid embarking on this kind of journey. It almost always involves some suffering, but in the end, the outcome is worth it.

In the story of Jesus, most of his followers understandably treated his death as a tragedy and were bereft and despondent. They were sure it was the end, and no good could come of it. Even though Jesus had repeatedly predicted what would happen2 and urged them to never lose hope, this was all quickly forgotten as they watched his torment and death on the cross.

Only a few of his followers—all women, incidentally—remained faithful, expecting the promised miracle.

When the other followers realized Jesus had risen from the dead, they could see that his death was a good thing. Without it, there could not be the new life he promised. Interestingly, Jesus appeared to some of these followers on the road to Emmaus3 as they were walking away from Jerusalem to return to their village after losing hope.

How often do we do the same thing? We decide to take a step to change our lives, but when it gets too hard, we give up and go back to what is familiar.

But that’s not all we can learn from the resurrection story.

Easter is the culmination of a process that ends in victory and joy. But before that, things get pretty dark. If you are a practicing Christian, the Church calendar will take you through this process during Lent and, more intensely, during Holy Week.

Unfortunately, few churches do a good job of helping people examine what needs to die in themselves and their own lives, particularly how their egos4 are causing problems and are impeding their spiritual growth. In fact, some spiritual and psychological interpretations see the resurrection as a metaphor for overcoming the ego and achieving a higher state of consciousness.

But for many churches, there is usually a single-minded focus on Jesus as the Savior—he died for us, and we are all good. You don’t need to change anything; just cling to Jesus rather than doing your own inner work and dealing with the aspects of yourself that just aren’t working and are probably harming other people. If anything is wrong with you, don’t go to therapy; just “lay it at the foot of the cross,” and Jesus will take care of it.

I’m not saying it’s wrong for Christians to see Jesus as their Savior. I’m saying there is more to this story, and it’s a story that can help everyone, regardless of what they believe about Christianity or whether the resurrection literally happened.

As Richard Rohr says, “Every message about Jesus is a message about all of us, about humanity.”5

Jesus also shows us how hard death and rebirth is. Before the resurrection, he literally goes through Hell. He is humiliated and dragged through the streets, nailed to a cross, and left to die slowly in one of the cruelest forms of death in existence. While on the cross, we are told he descended into Hell and that he felt utterly abandoned by God.

While hopefully none of us will experience such an external process, many of us have had the internal experience of feeling like we are living through Hell. We have felt abandoned by God and those we thought loved us. We have felt lost and terrified at the prospect of letting parts of ourselves or our lives finally die to create a new life.

But part of Easter’s message is that pain, worry, and fear are not the end of the story. They are the beginning—if you can keep moving through to the other side.

The Easter story embodies the universal truth that endings contain the seeds of beginnings. Just as Jesus emerged transformed from the tomb, we too can emerge from our periods of darkness, failure, fear, or stagnation with renewed purpose and vision. Our struggles are not final verdicts, but portals to a new life.

So, take advantage of the resurrection energy today and ask yourself:

• What needs to die in my life? Have I lost something recently [a relationship, job, etc.] and can’t see that this was a necessary death, creating an opening for a rebirth? What can be resurrected from this situation into something new?
• What am I clinging to, believing it will make me happy even though it never does? Is it time to let this [job, relationship, need for status, etc.] die?
• What part of my personality needs to die so I can create a more easeful and peaceful life? Am I too angry, judgmental, or self-righteous? Am I too much of a people pleaser and willing to abandon myself to keep relationships?

Happy Easter!

Recommend Changing The Channel with Kirsten Powers to your readers

New York Times bestselling author Kirsten Powers offers fresh thinking about how we can make big changes in our lives, communities and country.