Change and Growth

Change is necessary, hard, beautiful, scary, and exhilarating....  We cannot continue to grow and flourish without change - we as humans, individuals, and collectively as community.  The more time I spend in nature and taking some quiet meditation time, the more I come back to the realization that change is a core part of existence - without change we wither and die.

“Stepping onto a brand-new path is difficult, but not more difficult than remaining in a situation, which is not nurturing to the whole woman.” ― Maya Angelou

How do you embrace change?  How do you respond to changes in your personal life and to the bigger changes that are facing us individually and collectively?  I freely admit that I struggle with change - when I was younger my mom would worry over me because with every major life change my body responded with illness or anxiety - during my move to Georgia 24 years ago I developed severe acid reflux as I worried over the change.  However, I leaned into it - I didn't let the fear of change stop me.  Life has continued to teach me over and over again that while change is scary (I still struggle with change and am very thankful for patient friends who know and love me anyway), change brings amazing things.  By embracing change - I've learned and grown in both my personal beliefs and understanding of individuals and the world (a friend of mine laughs that I went from the most conservative to the most liberal hippie of our team), I've built a successful business that I am able to run my own way instead of as a 'suit', I have family I never forsaw and who have forever enriched my life,  I have travel and experiences that I never would have dreamed of, and I have a fabulous foundation of roots set by my family but freedom and wings to pursue other changes and dreams.  So yeah - change still scares me and sometimes I still stall.... but then I keep moving - into growth.....into blooming.....

For each of us - this embrace of change, growth, and blooming will look different.  Within each of us it may look different from experience to experience.... but we must allow it to flow and to move with it so that we can continue to grow and flourish.... What changes are you facing?  How can you embrace it or settle and flow with it?  What might the bloom on the other side look like?  What changes and growth can you look back on with new eyes and appreciate the growth that occurred because of the changes?

“When we resist change, it’s called suffering. But when we can completely let go and not struggle against it, when we can embrace the groundlessness of our situation and relax into its dynamic quality, that’s called enlightenment.”  Pema Chondron

Think about the changes we see around us in nature - the changing of seasons;  watching a caterpillar cocoon and re-emerge as a butterfly;  seeing the birth of a new animal or person; watching a bird hatch, watching the leaves change color, fall and then new growth emerge; the way tides and waves continually shift and change the nature of the seashore; the way wind and water and sun change the ground and create canyons.  Change can be slow and it can be drastic but it is necessary to keep life moving and for growth to occur.

Embracing change in big ways and small ways is critical to our making space and opportunity for growth - personally and as community... Changes in relationships, in ourselves, in our interactions with others....

So often we try to hide from this change, this discomfort - we seek to return to what is known and 'safe' rather than leaning into the growth.  We automatically reject or shy away from any ideas that do not fit with our current known or our comfortable, stable, consistent setting.... Trying to avoid change, to avoid seeing and shifting, and in effect - avoiding growing.

“The only way that we can live, is if we grow. The only way that we can grow is if we change. The only way that we can change is if we learn. The only way we can learn is if we are exposed. And the only way that we can become exposed is if we throw ourselves out into the open. Do it. Throw yourself.” ― C. JoyBell C.

I think that we are seeing much of this in our country, in ourselves, and in our world right now - Being asked to change to help protect each other and ourselves (wearing masks, social distancing, digital learning and work) as well as to recognize injustices and to change ourselves and systems (addressing inequities, recognizing privilege, constantly learning and growing).  For may people this means changing the way they think and behave - Relearning what we thought we knew or what we had never known and incorporating that new knowledge into our behavior.

“When we least expect it, life sets us a challenge to test our courage and willingness to change; at such a moment, there is no point in pretending that nothing has happened or in saying that we are not yet ready. The challenge will not wait. Life does not look back. A week is more than enough time for us to decide whether or not to accept our destiny.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Devil and Miss Prym

This is our opportunity to really stretch and grow - to change in order to better care for ourselves and our neighbors and community.... This period of significant change is an opportunity for us to spread our wings and embrace a period of growth and change.  Whatever is to come on the other side of this period will be new and different - it is up to us how much we want to lean into this period of change and growth.

“The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.” ― Albert Einstein

In my martial arts class in college, I was going up for my belt test and I was terrified - my teacher looked at me and said he was glad I was so nervous - because it meant it mattered to me.  It's ok to be scared or nervous about change and growth - because it MATTERS and is important.

All that you touch

You Change.

All that you Change

Changes you.

The only lasting truth

is Change.

God is Change.” ― Octavia E. Butler