Change Happens. Growth Is Optional
“If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.”
— MAYA ANGELOU
With the change of seasons, we are reminded of the cyclical nature of life. My favorite season is fall. I love feeling the cool morning air, watching the colors turn and the leaves fall as a reminder of impermanence. We can learn so much from nature about change:
It’s constant. Fall serves as a powerful reminder that our bodies, minds & surroundings are always developing.
It’s inevitable. What we can control is our responses and reactions to what’s happening.
Resistance is futile. A tree doesn’t hold on to leaves out of fear of losing something familiar; it simply lets go. Soon enough, it’s beauty will be restored.
Clearly, some changes are the result of biology and the passage of time, within the natural cycle or order of things. Others are self-generated, under our own control and willful effort, or as a result of circumstances within a family, work or friend structure.
Personally, I had to learn how to make change work for my benefit. My resistance caused me suffering, drama and pain in the past. Now, I look constructively at a situation and ask how I’m benefitting from the lesson or transformation that is taken place. One of my core beliefs is that life is in my favor…that it’s happening for me, not to me. That helps me embrace most situations with more grace and less fear.
As threatening as change can seem, it is often a sign that a new chapter in your book of life has begun. Change can hurt in the short term but, if you are willing to stay present to what is, the lasting impact will usually be physically, spiritually, or intellectually transformative.
Tell me about your experiences with change, I love hearing from you!
To Powerful, positive change…cheers!