Tag Archives: change management

Finding Security in a Rapidly Changing World

pretty young child sleeping

by Gregory Toole

Someone said to me early in my career, “Your security is in yourself, not a particular job.” That turned out to be very wise counsel. It led me to focus on developing myself – my skills, knowledge, and inner resources. That way I was making myself valuable rather than holding the value as something that is received from the outside.

In today’s world that seems even more important. Employers today often hire temporary or shorter-term help. Technology is changing so rapidly that skill-sets quickly become outdated. Whole industries come and go in a much shorter span of time than in the past.

Rapid change is also a reality in so many other areas of life, such as relationships, health, and finance. Traditional ideas of relationships, dating, and marriage have changed dramatically, such that one who is newly single might feel a bit lost. In the field of health, there are so many alternative treatments and approaches. In finance, the defined benefit retirement plans that our parents and grandparents relied on for their future financial security are, for the most part, relics of the past.

The early advice I received, that our security is in ourselves, turns out to be consistent with the spiritual truth of how life unfolds from the inside outward. It speaks to that divine creative power within all of us that, no matter what our situation is, responds to what we give our attention to in consciousness. Ernest Holmes, founder of the Science of Mind philosophy said, “Principle is not bound by precedent.” There is a divine creative principle that only responds to what we believe and intend today, and responds to all alike no matter what mistakes, missteps, or missed opportunities we might have experienced before.

Spiritually, our opportunity is to begin today right where we are to fashion a new experience for ourselves. With work and employment, we can begin to design, with our imagination, a new way that we show up that highlights our value and leads to being well-compensated. In relationship, we can begin to cultivate love within ourselves and begin to recognize our own and others’ divine nature. In health, we can build on our sense of wholeness and lean into that inner divine wisdom to discern what is good for us. With finances, we may deepen our understanding that the source of all of our good is one divine source, manifesting in the world through one channel or another.

Once we recognize that our security is in us, then we are called to go in us more deeply, and more often. If it is in us, then why would we be looking for it outside ourselves? Going more deeply into ourselves is accomplished through more dedicated spiritual practice, including daily meditation, affirmative prayer, and being in spiritual community.

Before we say we don’t have time for these things, remember that the remedy for what ails us is in us. So we can think about all the time we spend on things outside ourselves, then choose to let go of some of those things in favor of the inward spiritual practice that will really make a difference in our lives.

Here are three simple practices that could have a major impact on your well-being and prosperity:

  1. Sit daily in silence for at least 15 minutes. Dedicate that time to simply communing with your divine nature. It is sacred time to just be. This time in meditation creates the spaciousness for more grace to operate in your life, thus moving you out of struggle.
  2. After your meditation, ask yourself what is it you are called to bring into your manifest world. Then in your mind and inner being, begin to claim that thing as yours now. Say “I am one with the divine whole. I deserve this good. I accept this good. I allow this good in my life. I am grateful for it. I let it be.” That’s your affirmative prayer.
  3. Find a spiritual community that resonates with you and regularly spend time with people who align with you and support you in your intentions. Notice when opportunities represent answered prayer, and act upon them right now.

Enjoy the journey, knowing you are safe and secure in the awareness and reliance on your great inner divine strength and creativity.

How to Be A Master Change Agent

Eolic generator covered with a cloudy sky.

by Gregory Toole

Once when I was about to take on a leadership position with a global spiritual organization, a veteran of the organization congratulated me on my new role, then said, “You won’t change anything.” Upon hearing that, I was a bit perplexed as I have never been anywhere that I didn’t change something. In fact, my experience is that just the presence of someone new in a group changes things.

Ironically, by the time I left the position, we had changed so many things that many felt we had made too many changes. But that’s what happens when we embrace change – we are able to navigate major change as a regular course of things, albeit change may still bring about some feelings of temporary discomfort.

Being a ‘master change agent,’ in many ways, is something to which we are all called. After all, who among us is immune to change? In fact, who among us isn’t constantly experiencing change? Rather than resist this ever-present phenomenon, our spiritual journey is really about mastering it.

How do we master change? The first step is to acknowledge that change is the natural order of things. The next step is to embrace it. With these two steps, we are 80% of the way, if not more, toward mastering change. The last 20% involves practice and seeing more deeply into the nature of change.

The practice is simply continuously returning to steps one and two: recognizing that change is the natural order of things and embracing change as it is happening.

Looking more deeply into the nature of change, we see that its true purpose is to further our spiritual growth. Change moves us out of our comfort zone, out of our place of inertia. It causes us to reach deeper into our inner resources to discover those that we previously did not know existed. It calls on the infinite divine creativity within us to bring forth newness of form, which is in alignment with our evolutionary nature as spiritual beings having a human experience.

As we are moved out of our comfort zone, we discover that we are bigger than we formerly realized. We find that our gifts can be given and received more fully than previously.

Here are the ten essential traits and behaviors of a master change agent:

  1. They embrace change as natural and good.
  2. They are continuously inquiring into what is moving within them that is wanting more outward expression.
  3. They look at how what is moving in them is connected to what is moving in the world around them.
  4. They acknowledge and address underlying feelings of fear and resistance that might block effective change.
  5. They constantly push themselves out of inertia and into newness.
  6. They acknowledge their biases and then honestly consider other points of view and perspectives.
  7. They look beyond “comfort” to discover a greater good that can be served by change.
  8. They use their own sense of clarity and wisdom about the nature of change to support and guide others through the change process.
  9. They get help in areas where change takes them beyond their current skills or competencies.
  10. They focus their creative energies on new and original ideas that take themselves and their organizations into bold evolutionary directions.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to be a master change agent. You have what it takes, and the world needs you!

Enjoy the journey.

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