Change is inevitable. Nothing and no one remains the same. Clinging to ‘what is’ stifles growth. The only important questions to consider about personal change are, “In what way,” and “In which direction.”
Every day in my office I work with people who are, to one degree or another, struggling with issues in their lives that require personal change to make their lives better. Some are stuck clinging to painful longings for what never was. Others are lost in fear about what never will be. Only they are not showing up for the present and the opportunities it offers.
They obsess about and blame circumstances and people outside of themselves for their pain and unhappiness. And as long as they do this, they fail to address the one thing they can actually change – their own thinking. How we think is the steering mechanism in each of our lives!
We cling to what is familiar because we are afraid of the unknown. In doing so, we live in “what ifs” seeking to avoid the pain of disappointment. Many people live their lives emotionally dependent and afraid of anything that threatens what’s familiar. They do so even when the known is, itself, painful. That’s how powerful the avoidance of change can be.
Personal change does not mean you stop being you. Rather, it means that your perceptions must evolve to a place of greater awareness and clarity. Will it require courage – you bet – lots of it!!! But the payoff is that you will have the life you want.
Leaves of Change – Personal Work from Elisa from Creative Commons.
