We’ve heard it said, “The only thing constant is change.” It’s inevitable. We can depend on it. President-elect Barack Obama’s life reminds us that, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Our lives are built on layers of everyday accomplishments. Changing ourselves is a permanent full time position that only we can fill. So often we waste our energy trying to change someone else’s behavior to suit our needs. This becomes a frustrating and futile exercise. Profound power and peace lies in the ability to change our own behavior to suit our needs. When we look at ourselves and our reactions, we disconnect from the need to change someone else. Hindsight is twenty-twenty vision. We can’t change the past, but we can learn from it and stop repeating old unhealthy behaviors in the present. We can increase the possibility that others around us may change in response to our new behavior but there are no guarantees. Also, as we let go of our efforts to influence the future, we free ourselves to more fully experience the present. Awareness of what’s not working is the first step to change. We often expect to snap our fingers once we’re aware and never repeat the old habits again. When we feel we’ve “arrived,” at perfection, life delivers more lessons to test our achievement. We attract opportunities to practice the new behaviors that ultimately better serve us and the world.

We see the world not as it is, but as we are. Problems and successes don’t last forever. This too shall pass. When we get stuck and too busy avoiding change to enjoy the gifts we fear to lose, our clutching only causes us to lose what we cling to more rapidly. Fear is a signal that there’s something to learn. Alan Watts said, “The more we try to catch hold of the moment and seize a pleasant sensation, the more elusive it becomes. Like trying to grasp water in our hand, the harder we grip, the faster it slips away.” Our difficulties do challenge us to reach deep within for courage, strength and faith. It’s important to allow ourselves the dignity to discover exactly how we feel about the changes happening to us and our world each day. In this state, the challenge is to let go of old ideas that no longer serve us and keep our minds open. Growth comes as we continue to learn and unlearn patterns. It takes courage to step beyond what’s comfortable, predictable and known. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Courage faces fear and thereby masters it.”

It’s important to accept that we each have our own rate and pace of changing old habits. We realize that we developed them as survival mechanisms in our childhoods to cope, but they no longer work or serve our higher good. Some assets become liabilities. By looking at ourselves, we see that if we’re uncomfortable with old patterns, then on some level we’re ready to move toward change. We welcome the flow of information that nourishes and replenishes us as we become fully ourselves. Helen Keller said, “To keep our faces toward change and behave like free spirits in the presence of fate is strength undefeatable.” Rather than getting sucked into the doom and gloom of the media, let’s see that like the phoenix rising from the flames, our country has been given a dose of humility to cut through the greed and arrogance that was ruling certain factions of our economy.  Humility allows us to remain teachable so we can apply our new ideas and ride the waves of change so that life continues to be a surprising adventure.   

Please write to me at sandyislands@hawaii.rr.com and feel free to browse previous articles under publications at www.sandyislands.com