Do You Embrace Change?

by Gregory Toole

What does it take for you to change? For many it takes an emergency or crisis before they’ll consider changing. For others, they’ll change, even if reluctantly, when they begin to see the necessity for it. Then there are those who seek, or even crave, change. Where do you fit along this spectrum?

I will confess that I am one who seeks change and have even made changes in my life just for the sake of change. Once, in my 20s, I even changed my residence just because I felt like I was in a rut. Perhaps that was a bit extreme.

Since most of us know that change is the one constant in life, why haven’t we collectively come closer to mastering it, or at least being more comfortable with it? There is something in our human makeup (some might call it the ego) that resists change, until some conscious or unconscious shifts leads us to embrace change.

For the past 20 years I have been part of a global spiritual community that is all about change. A large part of the philosophy taught in the community is about the power that we have to create, or at least co-create, the kind of change we want in our lives. Even though this has been a large part of the teaching, one might be surprised to find that many in the community still struggle with and resist change. This is another example of how navigating change is a big part of this human journey.

Ultimately, I have found that consciously embracing change is what allows it to be a joyous and positive experience. What are the benefits of embracing change? The first is that it’s going to happen anyway, whether we embrace it or not. Embracing it is a much more pleasant experience than resisting it. But there are many other benefits, such as:

• Allowing us to be more in the flow of life, opening the way for more ease and grace.
• Providing us the opportunity to co-create how change takes place. Since we are going with it, we usually notice areas where we have choice.
• Becoming proficient at adapting to change through practice, thus allowing us to reap the greatest benefits of new changes.
• Opening us to deeper understanding about the nature of change, which allows us to then become master change agents in our own lives and in our world.
• Gaining some mastery with change so that when major change happens, we are much more equipped to navigate it.

How could you embrace change more to reap its many benefits? A good start is to acknowledge and accept where we are now with change. Then we can ask our inner divine wisdom for guidance on what ways we could embrace change further. Thirdly, we can develop some daily practices or actions to support our intentions.

Change is your friend, if you first befriend change.

Enjoy the journey!