http://www.care2.com/greenliving/making-peace-with-change.html
Making Peace with Change
The most inevitable material fact of our universe is the one we have the stormiest relationship with. Either we fight it as it is appearing, or we mourn for it as it passes us by, but we are hardly ever at peace with change.
At every instant of our lives, change is guaranteed. We fight to keep it away, or work to get it here sooner because we think we know what should happen. We are certain (sometimes rightly!) that the change coming toward us will ruin or kill us. We think and hope that the right change will fix us (or them or it) once and for all.
There’s the rub. Other than death, there is no “once and for all” regarding anything that is subject to change. If you take a moment now, you can ask yourself the question, “What changes?” Is there anything that does not change? Anybody, any situation, any location, any thought, any feeling, any opinion?
We may work for change in our political, social, or personal lives, and even rejoice when change appears, but all too soon we become fearful that it won’t be enough or that it will disappear.
It won’t be enough (nothing that is subject to change can ever be enough to truly fulfill us), and it will disappear. That’s simply and starkly the nature of change.
Change is inevitable and yet even the worst is often ultimately not bad news, though it can be when it arrives. There are certainly deeply destructive changes that threaten us now as individuals, as societies and as a planet. We are right to work to bring about positive change and try to defeat negative change. We just have to finally face the fact of change.
Facing the facts allows for adaptation, or as recently said in politics, “being on the right side of history.” We are in the midst of huge change in our country right now, and if we keep in touch through the media, we know the upheaval and hysteria that is accompanying it.
We can recognize and empathize with the anger, driven by fear of loss, in those who are desperately trying to keep what has already happened from happening. We have all tried that futile strategy in one way or another.
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19 comments
add your comment »such a nice story
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Change is one of the things that is a constant in out lives, one of the things that will always be there. We can do one of two things, embrace it or run. To me it falls right up there with understanding detachment. Being willing to let go to rebuild or take that left in the fork or your path instead of being frightened because the road is not straight. How boring would life be without change or even the challenges that change can sometimes bring? How would we grow? Just a thought coming from reading this great article! Thank y ou!
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"...let ourselves be humbled by forces beyond our control." Ah yes. Put your attention on that which does not change, on that from which all change arises and returns. Thus, change becomes a welcome event, like a late rose in Autumn.
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Hello Dear Gangaji,
Fun to see your words on my screen. I hold you in my heart. Hope your fall is falling sweetly. ;-))
With love, Holley in Grants Pass
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Very interesting and insightful reading. Thank you and have a Blessed day.
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Sadly, the people who most need this article are the ones least likely to read it!
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Thank you excellent reading and thoughts. Change is all around us and how we deal with it makes us who we are.
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The best advice tells you what you already know. Thanks!
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I think your article is quite profound. We all tend to resist changes in our lives, but they always bring us to where we need to be. When we learn to accept change, life can become an exciting adventure instead of something to be dreaded. Thank you for your insightful words!
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I have learned that if you can't roll with the changes in your life, they will roll right over you. Whether we realize it or not, change is a constant in our lives.
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