Change

"God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

the courage to change the things I can,

and the wisdom to know the difference."

- Rainhold Niebuhr (American theologian)

There is a common theme to all life on this planet.  That theme is change.  It is hard to think of anything here as stagnate.  Even fossils and billions year old earth formations are changing.  Then why is it that as a species, human beings resist it, often to their own detriment?  Mind you, I am not asking from the outside looking in.  I have lived in that glass house myself from time to time.  I would say I even go back once in a while in a moment of emotional reaction on vacation. ;) Who hasn't resisted change? Doesn't exist.  You might very well, with LOTS of patience & practice learn to accept and flow with change.  You might even evolve to welcome all of life's changes but trust me, at some point, we've all been at that place of resistance (let alone full on retreat).

Sadly, there's a price to pay when you resist change.  Not only are you stagnate in the negative of the situation, you're not getting the lesson trying to be imparted from whatever is going on at the time.  You're turned off, tuned out and bound to repeat everything until someone or something flips the light of reason on in your head!  Time passes.  You miss out on life because you're repeating BS you're not learning because of being stuck in resistance.  It's essentially nothing less than self sabotage at its finest.  

If you can accept change, what comes next?  You're in the flow and .... ???  Heh, this is where it gets good.  Anything comes next.  Anything at all.  What comes next is totally up to you.  This is where you get your control back over whatever 'it' is.  You pick your reaction and the steps to take next.  At this point you have to take a leap of faith and act in courage on your reaction.   It's that defining moment of being defeated or standing up to fight.  What fuels the fire of courage?  A belief in what you're standing up for.  It's effortless.  By acting in courage and standing up to take control through the act of acceptance you move to a place of knowledge.  Gandhi said that we are to "be the change we want to see in the world."  Courage creates this change.

Having gained new knowledge, you and I, we're wiser for the journey.  Thus, the next time a change comes upon some resistance we'll recognize it faster and be better equipped about how to deal with it.  Maybe just that fact alone will help us to embrace change a little easier.  Nah, I didn't think so either.  ;)  


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