Change

Today's quotation: Since we live in a changing universe, why do people oppose change? If a rock is in the way, the root of a tree will change its direction. The dumbest animals try to adapt themselves to changed conditions. Even a rat will change its tactics to get a piece of cheese. Melvin B. Tolson

Today's Meditation: Change is one of the most wonderful aspects of our lives, and if we can embrace change, we can embrace life itself. Another side to that idea, though, is that until we can embrace change, we cannot embrace life itself. We have been given a wonderful gift in the ability to adapt, and it's important that we take advantage of that ability. Unfortunately, many of us have been taught consistently that change is somehow "bad," and we do our best to avoid change in the more important aspects of our lives. This avoidance leads us to hold on to situations such as jobs that make us unhappy or marriages that simply aren't working, all in order to avoid the unknown results that change will bring us. But the people I've known who have been laid off from work have almost always found work just as rewarding or even more so; most of the people I know who have left damaging relationships have found very positive ones later (unless they hook up with someone just like the other person, but that's a different story!). The world changes constantly. The patterns of heat and cold on this planet consistently shift, bringing us ice ages and times of great heat. These shifts happen even without our "help" from global warming. Animals evolve, adapting to their environments. We change our clothes, we change our homes, we change our minds. Our tastes change, our desires change, and our beliefs change. If we want to be completely stagnant and never change at all, then we have our work cut out for us, for that's hardly possible. Change is for us to embrace and to learn from, and as we adapt to changes in our lives we grow as people, and we grow into different people. And our lives become much richer for all the changes we go through.

Questions to consider: What kinds of changes do you love? What kinds do you dread? Why do you dread them? What are the results of being resistant to change? Does that stop changes from happening? Does it help us? How can we get the most out of the changes that happen in our lives?

For further thought: It seems necessary to completely shed the old skin before the new, brighter, stronger, more beautiful one can emerge. . . . I never thought I'd be getting a life lesson from a snake. Julie Ridge This is the time of year when everyone begins to make their lists of changes, or resolutions, for the next year. It's the time when many start to talk about what they will and will not do in the coming months. I used to be one of those people. I tried to make my lists and tried to steer the path of change that I wished to see. At the same time I also used to fight other change. I hated change. Despised when things did not go the way that I thought they should. I had a very difficult time when situations would crop up that I did not expect. I liked things to flow in a static manner. I got over that a few years ago and feel so much better for it. I am free from any and all expectations. I just go with the natural flow of life. Shit happens and I do what I need for any particular scenario. I'm like a duck...letting it roll off my back. I will be looking at 2011 without any kind of list and just letting the change come as it will. It happens, I don't need to encourage it.