Change Is Your Friend

Dear Reader,

Now there’s a thought, huh??? Change is your friend. I have been talking a lot lately with friends, colleagues and clients about what’s going on in their lives – as I also look at my own life. One friend wants to change careers, to do work that more closely aligns with her spirit. Another friend wants to return to his meditation practice, slow down his life and find a little more peace as he attends to an ailing parent. The common thread in these conversations is that we are all looking for ways to gracefully incorporate change in our lives.

Change is often seen as big, challenging, scary, stressful… in fact, if human beings could do one thing to improve the quality of their lives in a big way, it might be to make a shift in how they experience change. So why do I say that change is your friend?

Since I am a dancer, I see change as a dance partner. Sometimes it leads me, but it is important for me to remember that I always have a choice as to how I respond to that lead. It is perhaps even more important for me to remember that sometimes I lead change. As I may have said in earlier posts, I see you as the artist of your own life, creating your own work of art as you go. This makes you a creator, or as I like to look at it, a co-creator with the universe, spirit, God, whatever you choose to call it. Change is both one of your tools as a life artist, and the dynamic that gives your life, your work of art, vitality, intrigue and passion.

Every change you encounter or create gives you an opportunity to discover something new about who you really are. If you attempt to ignore, avoid or block change, you most likely use a lot of energy, become stressed and perhaps even shut down to parts of yourself. If you remain open to change, decide to dance with it full-out, with curiosity and even enthusiasm despite whatever fear you might feel, you can grow stronger, more flexible and more empowered. In other words, you can live more fully from your spirit.

Pop psychology? I think not. We are becoming more clear than ever that how we think, how we choose to view things, affects the quality of our lives for better or worse – and that same concept certainly applies to how we think about and approach change.

Embracing change as your friend – easier said than done? Sometimes, perhaps, but it is always, always doable – and always worthwhile. After all, dancing full-out with change allows you to look your friends in the eye and say “I love my life!”

But… how do you do it?!? In my next posts, we’ll focus on specific, tangible ways to incorporate change more smoothly in your life, but one way is to develop your ability to pay attention. One tiny example can be found in my experience of writing this post. It hasn’t gone at all the way I thought it would! It took a different direction, and as it did, I noticed a tightening in my chest. In paying attention to that sensation, I discovered a resistance to change, a desire to clamp down and revert to the original plan. Unchecked, that resistance might keep me from even starting a new post.

That’s not what I wanted to create today. So when I felt the tightening, I paused, really felt it, took a full breath, and let the desire to clamp down go. That action and choice helped me let the old idea go and get this post on its way to you.

I honor your loving heart,

John