10 Ways to Embrace Change

There is nothing more certain and unchanging than uncertainty and change. –John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Did you ever notice how in one moment you can be ecstatically happy and then suddenly depressed? How you can be friends with someone and then they become an enemy? How something is good and then turns sour, like a delicious mango that becomes rotten?

The world around us is not the same as it was just a moment ago. Babies have been born, people have died, clouds have passed overhead, waves have risen and fallen. Who we are now is not who we were last year, last week, yesterday, even a few minutes ago. Already we have changed, some of our cells have died while others have been created, while our thoughts, feelings, beliefs, ideas, even our relationships are as changeable as the weather or the seasons.

The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty; not knowing what comes next.
–Ursula K. LeGuin

Change happens in the flash of a moment but the ego mind – our self-obsessiveness – needs to make everything appear solid and permanent. We even push death away like an unwanted object, no one actually believes they are going to die.

But just imagine if everything was permanent! Imagine how boring it would be if we were always the same: there would be no butterflies, no full moon, no cherry blossom and no cherries. Change is the reality of life so if we resist it then we are resisting the meaning of being here, which is to be always becoming something different, other than what we were before.

Without change in ourselves we become stifled and stagnant. Being with what is as it is, and integrating the reality of change is wonderfully liberating, the opportunity to clear away layers of dust and cobwebs and to start anew in each moment. Just as palm trees transform muddy water into sweet coconut milk, so we can transform fear into courage, selfishness into kindness, and loss into a new beginning. Spring is here with new life bursting forth, and in the same way we can create a new life for ourselves in every moment.

Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending. –Maria Robinson

Here are 10 ways to make change your best friend:

1. Accept what is! If you can change something, then do; if you can’t change anything, then release resistance and simply be with what is.

2. Take risks. Life is about not having answers, taking chances and risks, and making the most of every moment, all without knowing what is going to happen next.

3. Be your own best friend. It is easy to blame and shame yourself, but now is the time you deserve the most love and kindness of all.

4. Every day is a new beginning. Each time you take a step forward you have no idea what might happen. But nothing will happen if you continue to stay where you are.

5. Keep falling as long as you keep picking yourself up! Making mistakes is not the problem, but not learning from them and moving on is.

6. Nothing lasts forever, so appreciate every moment fully and completely, as it will never happen again.

7. Think with your heart instead of your head. When you come from your heart you come to your senses!

8. Meditate. Take time to just stop and breathe, to remember why you are here, and to find what is of real meaning to you.

9. Don’t take yourself too seriously. A good sense of humor prevents a hardening of your attitudes, and stops your opinions from getting too rigid!

10. Do something for someone else and make giving to others a part of your life, especially if it is a smile and a hug.

How do you deal with change? Do comment below.

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