Change. Sometimes we come to think of it as a 6 letter dirty
word. I am not referring to the kind in your pocket, but the kind that can take
us out of our comfort zone, push us into doing something we weren’t planning on
or get in the way of our routine, seemingly taking us off course. But what if
that change actually IS the course? What if we are not meant to be static? How
would it feel if like the wind of a soft breeze we let change flow through us
without the usual resistance?
These are interesting questions that may upon first read
make you feel uncomfortable. But I am going to challenge you to take a long,
hard look at the changes that have come in your lifetime. Think about how much
you may have resisted something changing and then how it turned out for you in
the long run. The resistance that we feel to change is simply the fear of the
unknown. But if we can train our minds to start embracing the unknown (with
some heartfelt practice) some of, if not all, of that fear can be dissipated.
Think about surprises, do you enjoy them? That is actually excitement about the
unknown. And what is behind that excitement is the promise of something new,
the possibility of expansion on some level, the hope of having something good
that you didn’t have before. Those are the same feelings that can be applied to
change in our lives. It just takes some conscious choosing to so.
On the flip side there are some folks who in fact do not
like surprises. If this is you, know that how you feel is OK. But ask yourself
if that aversion to surprises feels good to you? Do you desire to find that
place inside of you that gets lit up at the thought of a surprise? If so, you
can try this simple formula. Think of a time when someone did surprise you,
maybe someone threw a surprise party for you and you didn’t like it because you
don’t like being the center of attention. So you know the reason why you didn’t
like it but then ask yourself how long that uncomfortable feeling lasted as
opposed to how you felt overall with a night that was perhaps spent with
friends and family in a time of conversation and laughter.
This formula can be applied to any area in your life where
you may have experienced change. Think about how long the discomfort actually
lasted. And notice how much of the discomfort actually came from the
anticipation of the change rather than of the change itself. Often we turn
ourselves into fortune tellers, deciding that we know just how awful an
impending change is going to be. And more often than not that is simply not the
case. Further, it’s important to note if we are in fact reacting to the reality
of the situation or something we may have exaggerated in our mind.
